The Road We Travel
by James Terrazen
Summary: The story of the Lone Wanderer as told by her closest friend.  Rated M for reasons that will be mentioned where applicable for vulgarity, adult situations, etc. Ch.9 up, finally.
1. Good Time, Just In Time

_**Note from the Author:**__ The first paragraph about the Lone Wanderer is from the character's perspective, and it is not a clam to how the main character in Fallout 3 should be, nor is it intended to bash the fanfictions of others. The Capital Wasteland and all its inhabitants, save for the original characters depicted in here, are property of Bethesda Studios, Ltd., as well as all the other third party developers involved in the creation of Fallout 3. I would list them, but my memory sucks. It bears mention that, unless you want a crack at the wages of an underpaid, part-time French fry pusher under the thumb of the McD corporation, don't waste your time and money taking me to court over this shit. Not like I'm making any money out of this or anything._

~Chapter One: Good Time, Just In Time~

My name is Matthew Scott, but this is not my story.

There are many stories out there about the Lone Wanderer, the individual that escaped Vault 101 to single-handedly save the Capital Wasteland from its many woes. Personally, I have no clue how so many variations of the story came into being. I met the Wanderer myself, and most of the bullshit I've heard about her are just straight-up lies. But I guess people just remember what happened differently. Or want to remember it differently. I guess she did make some enemies out there.

But you know that, most likely. I remember the first day I met her. It was the day Burke finally lost his patience. Mr. Burke came to Megaton looking for someone who cared so little about the place that they wouldn't mind taking a detonator to the bomb in the center of town. Naturally, everybody he met either ignored him completely or told him to fuck off. That's what I did at first. But he seemed to pick up on the fact that I had only moved into town less than a month ago and tried to use my lack of funds against me.

I woke up that morning with the decision that I would have to go out and scavenge for weapon parts to sell to Moira and whatever caravan showed up today. As I was making my rounds around town in preparation for the journey, Mr. Burke saw me as he was leaving Moriarty's Saloon.

"Little early for boozing, isn't it?" I made the mistake of asking.

"Everybody has their own morning rituals," Mr. Burke said nonchalantly. He made a good point, but that's not where the conversation ended, unfortunately. "Have you reconsidered my offer?"

I remember sighing after hearing that. "I gave you my answer," I responded disappointedly. "It's not about to change."

"You disappoint me," Mr. Burke sighed. "I had you pegged as a man of reason."

I shifted my gaze in search of the town sheriff, Lucas Simms. Great guy that he was, he tended to frown on weapons display in town no matter what the situation was. Out of sight, out of mind, my hand reached for the Scoped .44 Magnum I had hidden in my trousers behind me and glared at Mr. Burke. "Reason doesn't demand the lives of innocent people just because your employer doesn't like the view," I snarled. "No amount of money will change that."

"You misunderstand," Mr. Burke cooed. "This is nothing more than a real estate venture. 'Out with the old, in with the new,' as they say."

The tip of the revolver's barrel had a pleasant conversation with the right side of Mr. Burke's face. "This is nothing more than a gun," I mocked him. "What would 'they' say if I pulled the trigger right about now? 'Another one bites the dust,' perhaps?"

"You would not dare!" Burke growled, although the twitch in his cheeks from what I figured was fear told me he wasn't sure.

"Try me." I retorted maliciously.

If he was hoping I was going to blink, he was in for a bad day. Lucky for him, he could tell I was perfectly willing to rid the wasteland of a worthless bag of douche like him. As he stammered, trying to find a matching analogy, I hit him where it hurt.

"Listen closely. If that bomb goes off, the same thing would happen if this gun went off. Only it would be happening to you. And I promise you, if I so much as catch a glimpse of someone trying to attach **anything** to that bomb, this gun **will** go off. Repeatedly. And I'll make sure your employer is there to see it. Catch my drift?"

"The security team at-" Mr. Burke tried to say.

"-will be the first to die," I interrupted. "Now, why don't you go back where you came from before I start disturbing the peace all over your skull?"

His escape was rather calm, I'll give him that, but I knew it would be a cold day in hell before I'd seen the last of that prick, and I'd bet Pre-War money to caps I hadn't heard the last bit of drivel from his lips. But it's because of him that my first meeting with the Lone Wanderer was one of misunderstanding. I was getting ready to leave town when I noticed a bright blue and yellow jumpsuit standing right next to the bomb. It was hard to miss in the brown and gray of the surrounding landscape.

I had sheathed my hidden magnum by then, but already I was contemplating pulling it back out. I could practically feel its weight in my hand, and since I was focused on that, it didn't occur to me that Mr. Burke didn't have time to recruit her.

"Some people never learn," I sighed when I leaned against the bomb. When she looked up at me, I swear it felt like catching a kid with her hands in the cookie jar. Both of her hands were embedded in the bomb's propeller, and her eyes shined with naiveté.

"Huh?" she asked calmly, clueless to my meaning.

"I told him to leave that thing alone or bad things would happen. Some people never learn." I shook my head.

"Who, the sheriff," she asked as her eyes returned to her work. "It's not _that_ hard to defuse a bomb."

I looked up at the sheriff, who was staring down at both of us, and felt absolutely horrid. I couldn't help but wonder what he must have thought about my little intervention. Whatever itch was in my trigger finger at that moment faded instantly.

"My mistake," I managed to say before a large clanking sound the bomb emitted scared the shit out of me. I can't exactly play the vengeance card when I'm dead, after all. Fortunately, the sound was caused by the bomb's defusal. The Lone Wanderer raised an arm in the air in a celebratory gesture after stepping away from the dreadful thing. For whatever reason, the religious fanatics standing a few feet away didn't even seem to notice.

"Good job," I retorted in an effort to regain my composure.

"Told ya," she winked before walking off.

I didn't see her for a while after that. Not until I left for the day's scavenger run, anyway. My favorite places to scavenge are raider hideouts. For all their sadism, they're not hard to kill. But despite their many victims, they seem to recruit even more. I went to the ruins of the old Fairfax suburb hoping a new gang had replaced the one I slaughtered a few weeks before, and I was right. What's more, they repaired the turret I busted up last time, because it saw me before I got there.

Between the hill north of Fairfax Ruins and the ruins themselves is open wasteland, so I had nothing to hide behind. As such, my only recourse was to keep my head down and make a mad dash toward the building. Why the raiders didn't expect that, I don't know, but they probably were planning on my dying before I got to safety. Never ask a group of raiders what their strategy is. With derelict wall as my safety, my heart pounding with a combination of fear and an adrenaline surge, I pulled out my Combat Shotgun and waited for the first raider to rush out of the door. Predictably, that's exactly what happened. After feeding that raider a buckshot sandwich, I peeked into the door and saw a second one coming at me. Nothing a little double-barrel surprise to the face couldn't fix.

I replaced the shell drum for good measure before proceeding. The second floor held, aside from the repaired turret, three raiders, two men and a woman, who almost immediately took notice of my presence once my shotgun wen t off. The woman drew a combat knife and ran at me, stupid bitch that she was. Her male escorts pulled out a hunting rifle and a sawed-off, respectively, and sought cover. After detonating the woman's skull with two shells, I followed my enemy's example and ducked behind a wall. We took turns exchanging shots, but that didn't last long. I made sure to violently disable the turret after the carnage ran its course.

The first thing I noticed after that was over was that the raiders had neglected to refill the ammunition crates that the previous gang left behind. I didn't let that bother me, though, since the corpses the new gang left behind carried their fair shares of the stuff. The weapons weren't worth the parts they were made of, but I took them anyway, since I came here for merchant fodder in the first place. I left the building then and calmly walked out to the crossroads at the center of the suburb where, as expected, three more raiders crawled out of the woodworks and hauled ass at me. I giggled at the superior weapons they carried-a 10mm SMG, a Combat Shotgun, and a Flamer-and replaced my shotgun with my Sniper Rifle.

The raider carrying the shotgun was the first to go down. Those things have limited range, after all. The one carrying the Flamer didn't show any signs of fear from seeing his comrade hit the floor, but his still-living friend hid behind a Pre-War subway map and sprayed bullets in my general direction. Fortunately, his aim sucked, and his friend had to dodge the spray as well. "HEY!" the one flaming me shouted before turning to his friend, a tactic that shoved a bit of laughter up my gullet. "STOP SHOOTING AT ME!" he roared before turning, giving me ample time to put a bullet in his ear. The spray of blood and bone that erupted suggested that the bullet came out the other. The last one alive must've ran out of bullets, because he started charging me after that. Another dumb, fatal move.

I grabbed the guns and the ammo and started walking toward another building. This one wasn't guarded, however. As I went through it, I was starting to think that this one wasn't occupied until I heard a familiar voice plead for mercy. I instinctively popped on a Stealth Boy and scooted up to a nearby wall. This first thing I saw when I looked around the corner was the familiar face of the Lone Wanderer.

She was in a pretty tight spot, although I couldn't for the life of me imagine how she got into it. Her blue and yellow jumpsuit was in shreds, buried underneath her naked body. The raiders had her arms and her long, bright red hair tied behind her back and one of them had her bent over, his boot on her back and his hand in his pants. Her bare bosoms bounced from the force of the kick. The two other raiders were fondling themselves in anticipation.

"Ohhhh yeah," the leader moaned as the mushroom of flesh, blood, and other bodily fluids slipped out into the open. "We're gonna have a **good** time."

As the subordinates laughed in approval, and their victim whimpered in fear, the sound of an explosion ripped through the air. Before the leader knew it, his severed manhood was bleeding out in his palm, and his subordinates were freaking out. My Sniper Rifle fired again, ripping off the arm of one of the subordinates. Naturally, that's when the raiders started to return fire. They couldn't see me, though, so of course, their aim was pathetic. I switched to the quieter scoped magnum and had my fun.

Last time I was here, I raided the ruins in pretty much the same fashion. By the time I got to this point last time, my pack was pretty much full, so I had to leave some stuff behind. That's why the Lone Wanderer was able to find the folded-up leather armor on the nearby bookcase. I looked away to give her some privacy and noticed something else I left behind. It was just a knife, but I was sure she wouldn't have an easy time changing clothes with her hands tied behind her back, so I grabbed it and slid it toward her. At first, she froze, but I made no effort to give away my position further, so she eventually took the gift to be a blessing of God for all I knew. I heard the sound of rope being carved before I knew it.

My Stealth Boy wore out just after she emerged in her leathers, and she did what I would have probably done in her situation, which is to say she screamed her head off and reached for her 10mm pistol.

"I'm not one of them," I said calmly, fighting off the laugh that was building up in my throat for some reason. Thankfully, she believed me.

"You…" was all she could say at first, between gasps for air. "You… you did that…"

"You mean that," I replied, pointing to the corpses and the discarded knife. "Yeah."

I have to say, I wasn't expecting the hug. Granted, I saved her from a traumatizing situation, but hugs are something of a rare thing out here in the big bad Wasteland, at least from what I've seen of it. "You're welcome," is the only retort I could come up with when it seemed like she wouldn't let go. I still hope I didn't come off as a douchebag with the way I said that.

"I can't imagine what would have happened if you didn't…" she trailed off. When the tears came, I was utterly without response. I didn't dare wrap my arms around her after what she went through. I felt like I should have said something to console her, but I was struck speechless.

"I'm sorry…" she sniffed. She let go of me so she could dry her eyes. "I wasn't prepared for that. What would my father say if he found out this had happened…"

I rubbed the back of my neck. I didn't have an answer to that, either. "C'mon, let me take you back to Megaton," I offered, finally reclaiming the gift of speech.

"I…" she started to protest. "I'm sorry, but I'm looking for someone."

"Nothing but dead raiders here," I told her. "Besides, there are worse things than raiders out there." Sounds harsh, I know, but it really is true.

She smiled at me in a way I rarely saw back then. "Thank you," she said. Fortunately, I would be getting to see that smile more in the days to come.


	2. Megaton's Grand Tour

_**Note from the Author**__: I've been playing Fallout: New Vegas ever since I first got it, so as it's been a while since I've played Fallout 3, I'm basically going by memory here, which is less than perfect by normal people's standards. I will update this chapter with proper NPC names when I can get my TV to work._

~Chapter Two: Megaton's Grand Tour~

The trip back to Megaton seemed to take a bit longer than the trip to those fateful ruins.

The Lone Wanderer recovered from her situation quickly, to her merit. A couple of Stimpaks and a bottle of purified water later, and she was more than happy to follow me out of the ruins. Once we were on open field and away from the ruin complex, she opened up to me a bit more.

"Thanks again for getting me out of there," she said with a smile. "I can't believe it went sour that quickly."

"How did that happen, anyway?" I asked foolishly.

"They caught me off guard," she confessed. "I tried to talk my way out of it, but they… they were horrible."

"Never fought raiders before?" I asked. I had no idea what her situation was, but I assumed she had grown up in the wasteland, just like everyone else I knew, including myself.

"No… I had no idea how bad things were out here," she sighed.

"Out here…" That's not what I was going to say, but those two words stuck with me. "What was that supposed to mean?"

"I…" she started to say. "I lived all my life in Vault 101… Today is my first day out here."

I didn't know what to say. I had no idea any of the old vaults even worked, let alone had people living in them.

"What happened?" I had to ask. By now, she had shattered my preconceptions of her so much that I just had to know what the deal was.

"I don't want to talk about it," she muttered. "Bad things happened… I just couldn't live there anymore."

I quelled my confusion for her sake… most of it, anyway. After what happened to her out here, she still managed to keep her cheeriness until that was brought up. I didn't want to imagine how much worse it could have been for her down there than nearly being raped.

"You said you were looking for someone," I mentioned, my curiosity fighting my disciplined mind. "Who?"

She was silent for a moment. "My father," she said finally.

A million possibilities raced through my mind. "What happened to him?"

"He… he's the reason I had to…" is all she could say. 'Ouch' is the only word that came to mind. I couldn't begin to imagine what kind of man her father was at that moment.

"Any idea where to look?" I asked.

"The sheriff said he thought he saw someone like that head for the saloon," she said.

"Moriarty's," I sighed. I knew who Colin was, and essentially put two and two together. "Let me guess, he charged you a few hundred caps for the info, and you came here to make it."

"No… he only asked for a hundred, but that's basically it…" she replied.

I started to say something before it hit me. "What about the money you made from defusing the bomb?"

The look on her face said she knew I would ask that. "I told him… Well, I couldn't sleep at night knowing the people of Megaton might…"

I couldn't help but facepalm. She refused payment for that task, she was trying to say. That's all she could be trying to say.

"I know it was stupid now, but I couldn't know I would need it…" she tried to explain. I looked over at her and instantly felt bad for facepalming.

"I'll talk to Colin for you," I said without thinking.

"You don't mind?" she asked.

"He owes me a favor or two," I said with a smirk. It was a lie, but I was confident I'd be able to work something out with him.

"Thank you," she blushed a bit. "I owe you a lot, now."

I couldn't decide on how to respond to that, so I stayed quiet for the rest of the trip. Megaton came into view shortly after that.

Once we stepped into town, Lucas Simms confronted us. "There's our town's heroine," he says to the Lone Wanderer. She blushed a bit at the praise. "It felt bad letting you do that without some kind of payment, so I got you this."

"Thank you," she said as she pocketed the key. I found that a bit odd, since Simms is usually wary of letting people in.

"The house is down at the center of town," Simms said, leading us to the defused bomb. "It's right next to the Brass Lantern."

I knew well enough who owned that house. "Isn't that Burke's place?"

"It was," Simms sighed, "until he moved out today. He said something about things not going according to plan. Oh, that reminds me, he asked me to give this to you."

I didn't have to guess what the letter from Burke said, given the conversation I had with the man earlier this morning. Still, I took the letter anyway. "Thanks," I said.

Simms nodded and went about his business. I started to head toward Moriarty's, but it didn't take me long to notice that she wasn't following me. "What?"

"Um…" she shook, like she was trying to build up her courage. "Why don't you… give me a tour of your town?" she managed finally. "I've seen a little of it, but I really don't…"

I chuckled a bit, but I was holding back a hard laugh. After what went down, I wasn't worried about her having any kind of interest in me, but here she was trying to come up with an excuse to spend more time with me. The rational half of my brain warned me that she probably wasn't my type, what with the naiveté, but one look at her face made me shut that voice out. How could I say no to that face? "…Sure," I said calmly.

"To the left of us now is what's referred to as the 'Luxury Apartments,' according to the road sign right next to me," I said with an even tone. "My house is closest to the front gate, just over there. The one behind it belongs to a man named Jericho, and the one behind that belongs to a woman named Lucy West. Lucy's alright, but I'd leave Jericho alone. Local gossip places him at a disbanded raider gang before moving in here."

The Lone Wanderer shivered understandably at that bit of intel. "To the right of us stands a single home; one belonging to our sheriff, Lucas Simms, and his son." I started down the hill toward the crater, and she followed me. "As we head toward the crater, we see the Brass Lantern on our left, which is run by the Stahl family. Jenny Stahl runs the outside bar while her older brother Leo mans the inside 'café'. To our right is Doc Church's hospital. He's the best surgeon this side of the Potomac, save maybe the bigots in Tenpenny Tower. Don't expect anything in the form of a bedside manner, though. Jericho aside, Doc Church is the most unsociable prick in town."

I stopped just short of the glow-in-the-dark pool keeping the defused bomb upright. "To our far left is Mr. Bur- I mean your home." I nearly stuttered.

"It's not as big as yours is," The Lone Wanderer chimed in, with maybe just a hint of jealousy wrapped inside that sweet voice of hers.

"Well, I know Mr. Burke bought it as a formality, seeing as how he was here on business. Given the premium on space in this town, his hut is better than living in the commons."

"Where are the commons?" she asked nonchalantly.

"Up that hill," I pointed out at the one right next to her new pad. "And just in front of us is the-"

"So I gotta live in front of the poor people?" she asked with a bit of a huff that instantly changed my opinion of her.

"Space is a premium-" I reiterated.

"Yeah, I got that, but I'll feel bad with they're heading up to the Commons and see me in my own place," she pouted. "I don't want anybody thinking that I think I'm better than them. Or worse, that _I think_ I'm better than them." _Nice save_, I thought to myself.

"Well, you could always stage a sleepover," I joked. She didn't take it as a joke, however, and the smile on her face as she decided she liked that idea threw out any thoughts of bigotry I had toward her. "As I was saying, just in front of us is the Church of the Children of Atom." I got closer to her so I could whisper into her ear. "Don't let them know you disarmed the bomb in the center of town," I warned her quietly. "You don't want to start that riot."

"Thanks for the warning," she whispered back.

I started heading up the ramp attached to Doc Church's place, followed by the Lone Wanderer. Once we got to Moira Brown's store, I proceeded with the tour. "This is the Craterside Supply, home of Megaton's junk and weapons' trade. The proprietor, Moira Brown, is a little… different, but nobody in town is better at weapons repair."

"Nothing wrong with being a little different," she smiled.

"Up the ramp to our right is the Water Processing Plant," I continued, "as run by old man Walter. The plant is a little deteriorated, but as old Walter is taking care of the place by himself, most people don't mind."

I started heading toward the Saloon to continue the tour, but my tour group had other ideas. "Hold on, let me see if I can give the old guy a hand."

I shrugged off a chuckle and followed her inside, just to make sure she didn't get herself in trouble again. It took us a minute to track old Walter down, but the lack of decent lighting in the plant can attribute to that. It's not like the plant was a maze or anything.

"Mornin'," Walter mumbled as rose from his seat in front of the desk in the back room. "How can I help ya?"

"I'm kinda new in town," my companion confessed. "I was wondering… is there anything I could do to help out around here?"

"Nope, I've got everything handled in here," Walter said proudly. "I don't know what you heard from the other people in town, stranger, but old Walter's got this bucket of bolts under control. Of course, I don't got much time to check the pipes outside. The machinery in here would fall apart if I didn't give it constant attention."

"So the pipes outside need fixing?" she said with a spring in her step. "I could help you with that."

"I dunno…" the old man trailed off. "I wouldn't want you to mess up the pipes worse if you don't know what you're doin'…"

"Nothin' to it," she hummed. "A few twists of the wrench, and the leak goes away. Righty, tighty!"

"Hah. I like your enthusiasm, young lady," old Walter chuckled. "All right. Here, take this wrench and these few scraps of metal and get to work. Judging by the pressure in the plant, I'd say there are no more than three leaks in the pipes outside."

"Thanks," she smiled, taking the scrap," but I don't need the wrench. Got my own. Never leave home without it!"

Walter laughed as she pulled the wrench out of her right-front pocket and held it up triumphantly, leaving me curious as to where she hid that when the raiders were having their 'good time' with her. Of course, the part of me that didn't want to know, tempered by common sense, kept me from asking. As she ducked out, I followed suit and started to worry if her sugary disposition was going to be giving me diabetes any time soon.

"Come on," she called out to me, breaking me out of my contemplation. "Finish the tour while I look for leaks."

"No problem," I smirked, dashing in front of her on the way back down to the front of Craterside Supply. "The other ramp up leads toward the Saloon. On either side of the saloon are public bathrooms, one for each gender, and don't worry, they're more than just outhouses. They're decently equipped. Most houses in town have bathrooms of their own, so except for the occasional late-night boozer who can't be bothered or is too drunk to make it to their homes, the main customers – so to speak – are the residents of the Common Area, since that building is devoid of plumbing.

"They really charge to use the bathroom!" she huffed.

"No, they don't," I explained. "So to speak means it was just a figure of speech."

"Ah," she hummed, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. "I should have known that."

"We'll reach the Men's room, first," I continued. "The Women's room is on the far side of the saloon, and is surrounded by two other houses. The house between the saloon and the ladies' room belongs to Billy Creel and his adopted daughter, Maggie. The house beside Lucy's belongs to an elderly couple, Nathan and Manya."

As we neared the Saloon, the Lone Wanderer jumped ahead of me and hopped the railing over to the roof of the local church. She slid toward the pipes hanging off the roof and almost slid off herself. The leak on the pipe left the puddle she slipped on. Once she regained her balance, she used her legs to keep hold of the pipe, leaving her upper body to the task of repairing the leak. I have to say, I was impressed by how quickly she got the job done.

"Sorry about that," she shivered when she jumped back to my side of the railing, which I assumed came from coming down off the adrenaline rush of almost falling off a building. "One down, two to go."

"That was quite a feat right there," the familiar voice of Colin Moriarty chimed almost immediately. Colin was relaxing outside of his saloon, leaning against the railing and watching the hustle of the town's citizens as he liked to do, when my companion got to work so swiftly. "Your girl's got talent."

Moriarty had an eye for seeing relationships in others, so I knew arguing the fact that we just met was futile. I left that to the Lone Wanderer.

"Thanks," she smiled, as if focusing on the compliment and not the implication.

"I saw how quickly you headed off a while ago," he said to her, getting to the point as quickly as one could expect from someone like Colin. "I trust your search for caps was fruitful."

"It's kinda hard to survive out there when one isn't used to violent situations," I pointed out, my chivalrous nature shining through my Combat Armor. "Sending her to Fairfax was your idea of a joke, I take it."

"I beg your fucking pardon," Colin said matter-of-factly in a tone that suggested that I struck a nerve, "but I did no such thing. It's not my fault your little friend is poorer than the commonfolk around here. Maybe if you took a little more care of your bitch-"

Despite the lie in his implication, I pulled out my Scoped .44 and almost had it out in the open when the Lone Wanderer stopped me in my tracks. "Stop," she said weakly, as if almost to tears. "Fairfax was my idea."

I reluctantly holstered my magnum and shot Colin a dirty look. He smirked smugly despite almost losing most of his brain matter to a bullet wound. I guess the fact that Simms would have given me shit had he seen that little display was what gave him his courage.

"Whatever," I growled before turning away from him.

"Hey, wait-!" my companion called out to me.

"Get what you need out of him," I called back. I didn't tell her that I needed a minute to calm down because saying that would just add to his smugness, but thankfully she took the hint.

As I was calming down behind the saloon, I stared at the back entrance for a minute. Once I was calm enough for my brain to work, something clicked. Moriarty doesn't let ANYBODY into his back room, so if the Lone Wanderer is distracting him up front, then his terminal, his sanctuary of information, is unguarded. Granted, doing what I was thinking was against the law, but I'd love to see Simms try and see past a Stealth Boy at his age.

I activated the device as I calmly walked toward the back room. Picking the lock on the door was nothing. Guess Colin wasn't interested in shelling out the caps for a decent lock. Ever the cheap bastard. Once inside, I took a crack at the terminal. Terminals, however, weren't as easy as locks for me.

"Come on, work!" the gravelly voice of the local Ghoul rumbled in the room, giving me a bit of a start at first. The sound of banging against the hollow container of his radio made a bit more sense after the fact. Confirming that I was alone, I looked around for something to help with the terminal. All I saw, though, as a bunch of closets, and rooting through the lot would just be asking for trouble. Fortunately, I found what I was looking for in the closest one, which had a lock just as weak as the one I popped to get in here.

_Lotsacaps_, I mused, staring at the single slip of paper in the closet. _Typical._ Typing the password into the terminal did the trick nicely. Most of the garbage Moriarty typed into the terminal was old news, Jericho raping Jenny Stahl, Leo's nightly rituals, stupid shit like that. I have to say though, the passage about Doc Church's previous employment with the community of Paradise Falls was both surprising, albeit slightly, and revealing.

Finally, placed right beside a passage of Mr. Burke's discomforting arrival, was a passage labeled James. I never heard of anyone with that name in Megaton, but the parenthesized label of Vault 101 was a dead giveaway. Colin even had the heart to disrespect James's baby daughter in the anecdote. That's when it hit me; if this James was indeed my new friend's father, his passing took place before my arrival. That's when I read the part about James coming back 'out of the blue', and I realized that this info wasn't as old as I first assumed.

I hightailed it out of there before my Stealth Boy wore off, jammed a Bobby Pin in the back door's lock, and broke it off, hoping that Colin would assume that one of the local drunks was responsible for the break-in and would be inspired to get off his lazy ass and improve his security. Once visible, I strode out toward the front of the saloon and was almost run over by the leathered redhead.

"Iknowwhereheis!" she blurted out in one sentence, practically shaking in her boots from what I assumed was excitement.

"Mind obeying the speed limit?" I grumbled sarcastically as I rose to my feet. "I don't think I quite caught the license plate number on that one."

"I-know-where-he-is!" she reiterated, forcing her voice out as slow as she seemed capable of in her state of mind. "I know where to find my dad!"


	3. Survival Takes Preparation

~Chapter Three: Survival Takes Preparation~

Once the Lone Wanderer had time to calm down, and I had time to mentally gripe about my wasted Stealth Boy (those things aren't easy to find), she relayed the story to me.

After walking away to prevent decorating the Saloon's sidewalk with Mr. Moriarty's brain tissue (I think it would have been an improvement on two counts), the cheap bastard grunted at my heels. "Be careful about that one," he warned cynically. "He's got more temper than he knows what to do with."

"He's not that bad," she retorted in my defense.

"To a pretty lass like yerself, maybe not," Colin shrugged. "So, how'd yer cap-huntin' go?"

"Bad," she sighed. "Bad enough for him to have to save me from a worse fate than death," she added with a shudder at the thought.

"The Wasteland can be a terrible place," Moriarty feigned a half-hearted sigh. "Least ye came out with yer health, that's more than most can boast of."

"I'm gonna wait for him inside," she said, mostly to get away from Colin, I assume.

"Be sure to buy somethin'!" he shouted out after her, a demand she wisely ignored.

The inside of Moriarty's Saloon is as humble as the rest of Megaton, having been constructed of the same assorted salvage. It's generally the ladies that 'work' for 'Mr. Moriarty' that draw the crowd, if not the booze. Although the most unique piece of Colin's 'collection' is the male Ghoul 'employee' that Colin generally keeps on a short leash. As the Lone Wanderer was fresh out of the Vault and hence had no idea what a ghoul was, she spent the first minute or two standing in the doorway and staring.

"You'd think you've never seen a Ghoul before," Nova smirked, "the way you stare at Gob."

"Huh?" the Lone Wanderer blurted, confused by the sudden commentary. "What's a Ghoul?"

"Don't get out much, do ya?" Nova chuckled, taking the lit cigarette out of her mouth. "Ghouls are humans who get exposed to too much radiation but somehow manage to survive it. But don't let their skin fool ya. Ferals aside, Ghouls aren't any nastier than humans are. Not that that's saying much."

The younger girl's frozen expression sent a shiver of both humor and sympathy through Nova's soul. "Why don't ya go introduce yourself if you don't believe me," she suggested in jest.

The Lone Wanderer, not one for recognizing jokes for what they are, took Nova on that dare and regained her composure enough to stride calmly to the nearest barstool.

"Come on, work!" Gob growled as he banged his fist against the radio. The noise emanating from the screen was equal parts music and static, which suggested either a bad signal or an overly abused radio box.

"Will ya cut it out, Gob?" Nova called out in irritation. "Nothin's wrong with the radio. The Enclave signal comes in fine. It's GNR. Their signal's been shit lately."

"Come oooon…" Gob growled once more, slapping the box one last time before shoving it away in frustration. "Gah, fuck it."

Once Gob cooled down (which to his merit, it only took him a second), he noticed the new girl at the bar and nodded in that direction. "Sorry you had to see that, newcomer. What can I getcha?"

"Nothing," the Lone Wanderer muttered timidly. "Just waiting for a friend."

"Ah," Gob shrugged. The light in his eyes brought his attention back to the newcomer quickly enough. "Hang on. Ain'tcha gonna beat me? Berate me a little?"

"Why would I do that?" the girl asked honestly. "You seem nice enough."

"HAH!" Gob cheered. "Thanks for the compliment. You gotta be the nicest person I've met in this shitstain of a town, Nova aside, that is. Sure you don't want anything?"

"I'm fine really," she smiled; glad to know that her fears were ill-founded. "What's with the radio?"

"Like she said," Gob grumbled. "It's the damn station. It sucks that GNR's signal has gone to shit recently. It sure beats the hell out of listening to that Enclave crap. I enjoy listening to the deejay, Three Dog, and how he's fighting the Good Fight out there in the DC ruins. Wish I could get a piece of that action instead of getting being trapped in this dump."

Just as the Lone Wanderer was about to ask about Gob's forced employment, the word 'Vault' caught her ear, and she realized instantly that it came from the radio. She immediately reached to turn the volume up.

"His name is James," Three Dog said through the static. "Nice guy."

"Oh, my god!" the redhead exclaimed, bolting for the door just after Colin came in.

"Will ya turn that crap down!" Moriarty demanded bitterly. "Bad enough, that's all yer slimy arse ever listens to!"

"Sorry, boss," Gob moaned as he reached for the radio, not bothering to point out that the increased volume was not his doing for fear of the consequences.

"It had to be Dad!" the Lone Wanderer exclaimed as she finished her story. "He must have gone to the GNR studio!"

It wasn't hard to guess what she was getting at. After diplomacy failed her in front of a bunch of horny Raiders, she was going to go skipping through Super Mutant territory thinking that she'd find Daddy untouched and everything would be all sugar and rainbows.

"You remember what I said when we met? That worse things can happen than what happened to you at Fairfax?" I asked, with a hint of cynicism. "Well, Super Mutants are one of them."

"What's a Super Mutant?" she retorted cleverly.

_n00b, _my mind snapped at her. I looked down at the hand covering my mouth and realized I facepalmed instinctively. "Super Mutants are giant green men with less brains and more brawn, with a craving for human flesh," I explained.

"Are you joking?" she asked with a smirk. I glared at her, and the smirk dropped. "GNR Studio is at the heart of downtown DC. Downtown DC is Super Mutant territory."

"Oh," she frowned, guessing what I was getting at. We were both silent for a moment. I instinctively looked over at our audience. We didn't have one.

"Thank you for everything," she said depressively. "I understand if you don't want to go, but I have to. I have to find my Dad, whatever it takes."

The sad puppy-dog look on her face set me on the biggest guilt trip of my life. My conscience started chewing the fuck out of my insides as she walked past me on her way out. "Wait," I said finally, after she was on the ramp down by Craterside Supply.

Fortunately, she did as I asked and waited for me to catch up to her. "I can't let you go it alone," I confessed.

"I will if I have to-"she warned, not getting at what I was trying to say.

"You don't," I interjected. "I can't let you go there by yourself. If this really means that much to you-"

"More than anything," she said stoically.

"Then I'll take you there," I decided.

"Are you sure?" she asked, unconvinced.

"I've been to GNR before," I told her. "I know the fastest way there, and I've got enough firepower to stop a few Muties in their tracks. Go over to your house to get ready, and meet me in front of mine. We'll head over to GNR right away."

After Fairfax, I should have known that chivalrous deed would have earned me a hug. She was the hugging type, apparently. "Thank you so much," she moaned as she held me tight. "I don't know how to thank you."

"Don't get yourself killed," I smirked smugly.

She smiled a bit wider and headed down to her new property as I went to mine. Once there, I closed the door behind me and locked it. This was going to take me a minute.

I opened my weapons locker and shoved the Sniper Rifle into it. Its slow rate of fire wouldn't be useful against an armored mutie. Since I wasn't planning on letting any Supers get close enough for my Combat Shotgun to be effective, I dumped that, as well. I kept the Scoped .44 and took out the custom Assault Rifle I found lying around Jury Street Metro Station. It had better stopping power than most ARs and with an enhanced clip, it could fire for longer. But it wouldn't be enough for the bigger muties so, although I was running low on Microfusion Cells, I caved and grabbed my Gauss Rifle as well, just in case.

I took a minute in front of my armor locker, staring at my T-51b. I got it, my Gauss Rifle, and other assorted beauties in a military instillation in the far western corner of DC that had been occupied by 'Outcasts'. As much as I really, _really_ wanted the extra protection the T-51b offered, I knew good and well that GNR was a Brotherhood outpost, and my business relationship with them ended on a rather sour note. Lyon's Brotherhood weren't as focused on collecting Pre-War tech as the Outcasts were, but in the end, I decided not to risk it and walked away.

She was waiting for me once I stepped out of my home. She didn't look like she had any extra weaponry on her.

"You know what's funny?" she asked calmly, a mild smirk on her face. "You've done so much to help me and… I don't even know your name."

I chuckled at the prospect. She was right, of course. I was about to go stomping down in Super Mutant territory for a girl I hardly knew. _Lyons would be so disappointed in me_, I jeered mentally. "Matthew Scott," I said. "Just Matt."

"Kimberly Lee," she introduced herself. "Just Kim," she added with a knowing smirk.

I took another look at the redhead as she told me her name. Funny how I never noticed the mild slant in her eyes before that moment. _Better lay off the 'Red Menace' remarks,_ I warned myself jokingly.

"Well, Just Kim," I jeered, "What say we get you some better Mutie-bashing gear before heading out?"

She caved and giggled at that remark. I led her away with an air of feigned victory, like I won some seriousness contest, which only got more giggles out of the half-Asian girl.

Moira was as cheerful as ever, with a disposition that was more diabetes-inducing than my companion's.

"Hey, there!" she called out to us as we stepped into the Craterside Supply. "What can I get you?"

"Caps for my salvage," I said as I started pulling out the spoils of my conquest at Fairfax, "and some better gear for the girl."

Kim and Moira chatted it up while I brought out the collection of rifles and shotguns, not to mention the piece de resistance – the shoddy Flamer. I snuck a peek at what she was offering and realized that some of the weapons I was about to sell were better than what she had to offer. I decided to keep two of the weapons I won – the 10mm SMG, and the Hunting Rifle, to be precise – to give to Kim.

Once the redheads had their fill of chatter, Moira turned her head to business. I sold her the Flamer along with the other Raider gear I was selling and asked her to take the wrench to the SMG and the rifle, which put a dent in the funds I was getting out of this transaction. Can't put a price on stopping power, though.

Once the repairs were done, I handed the two guns to Kim along with the ammo that came with them, and traded some extra clips for those weapons from Moira for the Flamer fuel jugs that came with the Flamer, paying out the balance with caps. We stepped out of the store before Moira could make any comments about our supposed relationship and headed for the front gate.


	4. Who Raids The Raiders?

_**Warning from the Author:**__ This chapter is one of the reasons for this story's M rating. The character introduced herein is intentionally vulgar, for reasons that will be explained in due time._

~Chapter Four: Who Raids the Raiders~

Despite the fact that the road from Megaton to GNR would take more than a day, the Lone Wanderer insisted on making some side trips along the way.

"Why are we stopping here?" I asked; a hint of disappointment in my voice.

"Moira asked me to," Kim replied. "She wants me to scout for places that are good for scavenging food and water."

I smirked as she threw the doors open. "You know this place is a Raider stronghold, right?" I asked. She immediately slammed the doors shut. "No," she admitted meekly. I knew that was going to be funny.

"Fine," I sighed. "We can go in, but we take it slow. Make sure you find some cover before we get discovered."

Kim was a bit more reluctant to enter, so I forged ahead. I found cover behind a cashier's counter, and after checking the cash register (which was empty), I pulled my .44 and used the scope to look around. There were a couple of raiders on the shelves. Lookouts, I assumed.

"Okay, I'm hidden," Kim told me in a quiet tone, but one loud enough to attract attention, regardless.

"What was that!" one of the scouts shouted, which forced me to facepalm at the antics of the Lone Wanderer.

"Aw, fuck," I heard a Raider in the bathroom curse. I pocketed the magnum and listened hard. Judging from the sound of footfall on the other side of the shelves, the Raiders had guessed that they were not alone and were planning to divide and conquer. Judging by the shuffling in the bathroom, one of them had a large weapon. But since I've never seen a Raider with patience enough to use a big gun before, I should have guessed that the Toilet Raider was somebody else.

"I ALWAYS GOT SOMETHING FOR THE **BITCHES!**" the Toilet Raider shouted as 5mm streams rained out the bathroom horizontally at the gathering raiders at the far end of the room. Pattering of bullet versus leather, ripping and tearing of flesh and bone, and assorted screams told the tale of the SDM Raiders' last stand. For every death, the Toilet Raider took a step forward, eventually revealing his shoulder-length blonde hair and his pitch-black Combat Armor, as well as the Minigun he was using at the moment. The white, chalky Talon Company logo on the breastplate was a dead giveaway to his identity, or so I had thought at first. Good thing I was wrong.

"Come on, **bitch!** **Come on**, BITCH!" the WC merc taunted as Raider after Raider fell to his display of pissing away ammo. From the sound, I guessed that his minigun hit wall as often as it hit Raider.

Before long, though, he dropped his minigun and put it away, positively beaming at his vainglorious victory. He noticed me at pretty much the same time as my .44 came back out.

"Are you Talon Company?" I asked loudly, making the magnum in my hands visible enough to give him pause. 

"Fuck, no," he retorted articulately. "You?"

"You're the one wearing their armor," I pointed out.

"Tch. Protects better than the shit you got on!" he jeered. As I've never worn Talon armor, I had no idea if he was right or not.

"You'd be surprised," I said, putting the magnum away, but only half sheathing it, in case dropping my guard was a mistake. "What brings you out here?"

"Stabbing bitches, mostly," he chuckled. "Easy to live in the wastes when there's plenty of faggots to kill and shit to snatch. So, what? Decided to bring your girlfriend to a raiding party, huh? How cyoot."

"Why does everybody assume that?" Kim huffed. While it was refreshing to know that she was wondering that as well, my mind was elsewhere.

"So, what?" I asked, mimicking his tone. "You make a living by ending the lives of others?"

"Fuck, no," he spat. "I just raid the Raiders. Somebody's gotta put their dicks in the dirt."

"Amen to that," Kim scoffed understandably.

"How long were you hiding in the bathroom?" I asked. Didn't mean to make fun of him for that, I was just curious.

"Long enough to pick the place clean before you ran in here with your cock in the air screaming 'Here I am, come bust my nuts with a sawed-off'," he ambled.

"I'm not the one who shouted 'Okay, I'm hidden'," I smirked; my back turned to the Lone Wanderer.

"I wasn't shouting," she grumbled in response.

"Yo, you gonna introduce me or what?" he smirked finally, proving that none of us were much for manners.

"Kim," she blurted.

"Matthew," I added, extending my hand.

"Cool," he said while grabbing my hand and shaking it. "Name's Jaden. So what does bring the two of you out this far?"

"We were on our way to GNR," I explained. "Kim's looking for somebody important to her and thinks the jockey up that way has crossed paths with him. We stopped because she picked up a side errand on the way."

"A junk merchant in Megaton wanted me to scav this place for food and meds," Kim added.

"What, Moira?" Jaden scoffed. "Don't tell me you bought into that Survival Guide bullshit."

"That's the one," Kim sighed.

"I remember that bitch telling me to pick up a bunch of rads for her little 'experiment," he retorted.

"What did you tell her?" I asked, if only to keep the conversation going. Don't ask me why.

His answer was obvious, judging by his vocabulary thus far. "To fuck off."

"Anyway," he continued, "the pharmacy's back that way. I already emptied out the fridges, but I broke the lock on the door over there, and I'm shit for terminals, so the pharmacy's yours if ya want."

"Thanks," she smiled before damn near skipping off to the far end of the room.

"The terminal won't help if the lock is jammed," I sighed. "I'd better help her out."

"Cool," Jaden mumbled to himself as I walked away. "More for me."

I could hear Jaden ripping the armor off of the corpses he made as I headed to the back room. By the time I got there, Kim was hard at work hacking the terminal. She didn't notice me until the first bit of busted Bobby Pin hit the floor.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Making sure the door will open when the computer tells it to," I told her. "He really tore this door to shit trying to get in here."

"Points for effort," she jeered. I chuckled a bit in agreement as I went to work. Together, it didn't take us long to get the door open.

"We're back," echoed across the building. "Somebody open up the **FUCKING**-"

I almost laughed at the interruption of the intercom as distant screaming mingled with the melody of weapons discharge.

"And who's the bitch, now!" Jaden jeered over the bullets and the death knells. I almost started running over to help out, but the shit storm ended almost as soon as it began.

"Jaden?" I shouted, making sure the right team won.

"What?" he yelled.

"You alright?" I asked loudly.

"Fuck did you expect?" he laughed.

"A little heads-up, maybe?" I shrugged.

"Tell that to them," he retorted. "Oh… wait."

I shook my head and chuckled. For all of his grace with the English language, he wasn't a bad guy. At least he had a sense of humor.

Kimberly returned from the pharmacy before I realized she was even in there. "Got what we need," she said with a smile. "Found some of this weird blue stuff while I was in there. It's in a Nuka-Cola bottle, but…"

"Quantum," I explained. "It's a promotional product that they never perfected. Don't drink any unless you want your toilet to glow in the dark when you're done with it."

"…too late," she admitted meekly.

"What am I going to do with you?" I joked solemnly.

"It tasted really good…" was her response. I shook my head and smirked.

"C'mon," I said finally. "Daddy's waiting."

After taking the Quantum away from Kim before I became another Ronald Lauren, we made our way out, taking notice of the piles of naked corpses as we walked. By the time we got to the entrance, Jaden was stripping the last of the bodies.

"Yo," he called out. "You still headed to GNR?"

"That's the plan," I nodded.

"Takin' on the muties, huh?" he wondered.

"Wouldn't doubt it," I shrugged.

"Mind if I tag along?" he asked. "I could use a challenge."

"Sheesh, you don't mess around!" Kim blurted.

"Damn straight," he retorted proudly. "So how about it?" 

"It's up to her," I said as I opened the door.

Bryan Wilks was waiting for us outside. I had no idea who he was at first, and he seemed to have chased away the scavenger that was sitting out here when we arrived. "Please, mister, you gotta help me!"

_This can't be good,_ I scowled mentally. Kim and Jaden stepped outside before I could respond, thankfully. "Talk to the boss," I said, pointing to the pair.

"Wassap, kid?" Jaden asked, stepping ahead of Kim.

"Not you, herp-a-derp," I shot out, not bothering to look at him. "Her."

"Tell that to the raiders whose nuts are decorating the tile," Jaden retorted.

"Me?" Kim asked.

"This is your quest," I answered.

Kim sputtered a bit, apparently not expecting the mantle of leadership. "Uh… w-what's wrong?"

"Those things!" Bryan shouted. "They're burning up my town! You gotta help me!"

"Here we go, again," I sighed.


	5. Burying Daddy

_**Note from the Author:**__ This chapter is more of the same in terms of adult language, just to let you know. There's a bit of Christian propaganda in here, too, for those who don't appreciate that sort of thing. You were warned._

~Chapter Five: Burying Daddy~

In hindsight, Grayditch turned out to be quite the pain in my ass.

Once Kim got Bryan to calm down, he explained that a colony of ants had risen from Marigold Metro Station and were setting fire to his hometown of Grayditch. Naturally, he failed to mention that the ants were capable of _breathing_ fire, so he pretty much led me and Jaden to draw other conclusions.

As much as we didn't need another detour, since there's no telling how long it had been since Three-Dog had met her dad, Kim was more than willing to toss us into the fire for the kid's sake. Literally.

Grayditch was a stone's throw away from the Super-Duper Mart, which further developed our other conclusions, what with the mart being an old Raider stronghold. It took us less than an hour before we reached the 'Welcome to Grayditch' sign.

"There we go," Jaden said, pointing out the worker ant a few paces behind the sign. "Let me handle this."

He bent down and pulled a Ripper from his pack. "Got somethin' for yer ass…" he growled as he slid close to the ant, the Ripper spinning in anticipation. Jaden lifted his weapon as he inched near.

"Gotcha, biiaAAAAAAH-" he squalled as a column of fire shot out of the ant's maw, between his legs, and up his butt. He jumped to the side and rolled around, trying to put the fire out. All he managed to accomplish, however, is alerting a few other ants to his presence.

"Son of a bitch," I sighed raggedly, pulling out my only ranged weapon that was accurate at that distance. "Grab your rifle and try not to hit Toasty the Kid," I instructed Kim.

I popped five Microfusion Cells into the Gauss Rifle and crouched. I could NOT afford to miss with this weapon given my current financial situation, not to mention Jaden's predicament. I inhaled, lined up the scope with the biggest ant's head, and slowly exhaled as I squeezed the trigger. In a flash of blue, the monster jumped five feet in the air and slid back several more, the fire in its breath vanished with the fire in its eyes.

By this time, Kim had gotten three shots off with her Hunting Rifle. The ant she chose as a target had a single, frayed antenna to show for it. "Calm down," I told her. "Inhale as you aim, and exhale slowly while squeezing the trigger."

I replaced the chamber with a fresh batch, took aim at the third ant in Jaden's vicinity, and pulled the trigger, putting an end to its volley and vigor. The ant with the frayed antenna exploded at the torso on Kim's next shot, and it, too, gave up the ghost.

"Thanks," Kim said cheerily. Jaden was still patting the flames out as he rose to his feet.

"Thanks for getting my back," he sighed. "I was NOT expecting the pyro."

"No more solo mio," I warned him while stashing the Gauss. "We work together if we work at all. Now let's go find a grown-up and figure out what the hell happened to this town."

Kim and I swapped out for our automatics while Jaden extinguished his TC armor and hefted a Flamer onto his back.

Yeah. You read that right.

"Fighting fire with fire?" Kim giggled.

"Got that right," Jaden nodded.

We popped a few more ants before they could get too close as we walked down the street. Eventually, we came across a diner with a Pulaski Preservation Shelter. Jaden checked out the diner while I talked Bryan into hiding into the chamber and Kim made a quick sweep of the area for shelter and hostiles.

As Bryan was explaining the plight of his parents and soliciting my aid, Jaden returned with his heels in the dirt in disappointment. "So what's the plan?" he asked.

"Scout the area for now," I said calmly as Bryan closed the door to the commercial bomb shelter. "Inside and out."

"Fun," he sighed. "Where's the chick?"

"Setting a perimeter," I told him.

"Perimeter, huh?" Jaden scoffed. "Lemme ask you something. Where'd you learn to shoot like that? I take it an energy weapon like that wasn't easy to come by."

Jaden pretty much had my number, so I spelled it out for him. "Military training," I confessed.

Jaden raised an eyebrow. "Brotherhood?"

"Ex-brotherhood," I corrected him.

"So it's the Steel Plague and the Yellow Plague running together, then?" he chuckled.

I stared at him like he was retarded. I knew what he meant by the Steel Plague, as I'd heard the term was used to describe the Brotherhood out west. "What is that supposed to mean?" I asked.

Jaden shook his head and chuckled. "Dude, tell me you've been gettin' a crack at that pussy."

The look on my face soured. "We just met."

"Better get to it before someone else does," he jeered.

_Like you've got a chance in hell,_ I mused. "It's not like that."

Another eyebrow raised in my direction. "What, got a thing for the cock or somethin'?" 

"Fuck, no," I mocked him. "She's just a little… young."

Jaden snorted. "Shi-hi-hiiit, if there's grass on the infield, motherfucker, play ball."

"You wanna speak up a bit?" Kimberly asked, her arms crossed over her chest. "I don't think they quite caught that back in Megaton."

I turned away from the Lone Wanderer in embarrassment. Having this conversation was embarrassing enough, but having her in on it just made things worse.

"I said when you gonna let me get a crack at dat **ass**!" Jaden shouted, cupping his hands over his mouth for added effect.

"How about in the metro station," Kim said sardonically, sarcasm dripping from her tongue. "Or hell, let's do it in the nest, with the ant queen watching," she added with a roll of the eyes.

"Now yer talkin' my fuckin' language!" Jaden cheered.

"Idiot," Kim muttered under her breath.

"That hard to take a hint?" I asked Jaden calmly before turning to follow the Lone Wanderer.

"Take what?" Jaden asked in a befuddled tone before chasing after us.

The Wilks' residence was a sad sight to see. A bonfire was burning brightly under the fuel of rubble and ant flesh, sending a heat wave through the house that put the humidity of the wasteland to shame. We found Bryan's father lying peacefully on the couch, but the spark of his life had been covered in shite long before our arrival.

"We should bury him," Kim said calmly. While the prospect of digging a grave with my bare hands didn't appeal, I was fairly certain that Bryan would approve of the deed. We left Jaden to scavenge what he could from the house while we set to the task.

When I say 'we' set to the task, what I really meant was 'me'. Sure, Kim made sure we didn't have any problems with the local wildlife, but digging into soilless, irradiated ground with no tools to the task is not something that should be attempted alone.

By the time I scratched a hole big enough to fit the body, Jaden emerged from the heat box that was Bryan's home, and Bryan's curiosity drove him out of the heat box that was saving his skin from a hotter flame. Kim and I lifted the body into the grave as Bryan walked up to us.

"I should have known this was going to happen," he said solemnly. After being silent for a moment, Bryan looked around. "Was my mom in there, too? They should really be buried together."

"Kid," I gulped, breathing heavily. "If you got a shovel or a rake or…" I had to stop for air. "…tha-that would be awesome."

"Let me check," Bryan nodded before running into the house.

"Fuck," I groaned. "Even a **spoon** would be an improvement."

"You dug that shit with your bare hands?" Jaden asked. "Your hands must be sore as a motherfucker."

"Why don't you give it a shot?" I scoffed at him. "See if you like it."

"Fuck. That. Shit," Jaden enunciated loudly.

"I'm sorry, but we don't," Bryan confessed. "The Brandices' might have, though."

"Go check," I told him. "Take Jaden with you. And kid, if you don't find anything there, just grab some spoons. We'll make it work."

"Sure," Bryan nodded before he and Jaden disappeared into the building across the street.

"Let's go fetch his mom," I said to Kim.

"I'll get her," she responded. "Take five."

"Bless your heart," I sighed before plopping down onto the ground beside the grave site.

By the time I caught my second wind, Bryan and Jaden emerged carrying wooden planks to mark the graves with and – you guessed it – some spoons, two each for me, Jaden, and Bryan. Kim returned with Bryan's mom hoisted over her shoulder as we were covering up his father.

"Set her down there," I told her, pointing beside the current grave. "We'll get to her in a minute."

Even with spoons, the three of us working together to dig a fresh grave was easier by far. It still took us to sunset to get it done, though. Bryan helped Kim move his mom into the hole while Jaden and I drove the planks into the ground, and the four of us covered the second grave. Bryan stood there between his parents without a word for what seemed like an hour.

"Somebody should say something," he said finally.

"Not it," Jaden chimed in immediately.

Kim scoffed and shot Jaden an evil look. "I'll do it," she said before bowing her head before the planks. "Holy Father, who art in heaven, bless these, thy children as they journey to thy Kingdom. May their souls rest in peace for all eternity as they watch over their son, thy servant, as he lives in the shadow of their passing. Bless him, Father, that he shall know no evil, but that he shall walk among your people until the time that he rejoins these, his earthly parents, with thee in thy kingdom, in accordance with your will. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen."

"Amen," I joined in, paying my respects to the departed.

"Thank you," Bryan sniffed. "That was beautiful."

I caught Jaden's mumblings, but didn't call him on it. Everybody's got their own opinions about religion, after all.

"Bryan, you shouldn't stay here by yourself," Kim pointed out. "It's just not safe."

"Why don't we make it safe?" Jaden asked.

"How?" Kim retorted.

"Hey, kid, any idea where the ants are coming from?" Jaden asked Bryan.

"Yeah, the old metro tunnel southeast of here," Bryan said, pointing to Marigold Station.

"So, let's go clear it out so he can be safe living here," Jaden offered.

"He still shouldn't be alone," Kim glared at Jaden before turning to Bryan. "Do you have any family, or any grown-ups that you trust?"

"Dad said I had an aunt or something in Rivet City, but that's kinda far…"

"I'll take ya there," Jaden counter-offered.

"You don't mind?" I asked.

"What else am I gonna do?" Jaden pointed out. "I mean, Kim's still hunting for her old man, and she can't wade through the muties solo, but she don't need both of us watching her back, so… yeah."

"Alright, but let's clear the tunnel, first," I said.

"Yeah, that way Kimmy can keep her promise to me," Jaden implied with a wink.

"Take a joke, herp-a-derp," Kim growled, borrowing my insult.

"Tch. Whaaat!" Jaden complained.


	6. Disco Inferno

_**Note from the Author: **__For those of you ignoring the M-rated chapters, don't fret too much. This is the last time we'll be hearing from Jaden for a while. Galaxy News, here we come!_

~Chapter Six: Disco Inferno~

Like I said before, Grayditch turned out to be a major pain in my ass.

The first stretch of tunnel was vacant, thankfully. I don't really like fighting in enclosed spaces, because it's too easy to set up ambushes. That, and there's less room to avoid the colony's built-in flamethrowers.

Once we got past the entrance and started into the main tunnel, the Fire Ants started popping up. There were a few in the train tunnels, but most of the pack found that they enjoyed hiding in the maintenance tunnels, where the salvage was at its thickest. That meant that if we were going to make any money out of this charity gig, we'd hafta push into the bulk of the horde.

"Are there other ants like this?" Kim asked in frustration somewhere deep in the maintenance tunnels. "Ones that breathe fire, I mean."

"Fuck if I know," Jaden answered poetically.

"Not that I've seen," I corrected him.

As we neared the end of the tunnel, a spinning yellow light caught Jaden's attention. "Yo, look at this."

"What?" Kim asked.

"How much you wanna bet there's a cache behind that door?" he retorted.

"Because the light is spinning?" she scoffed. "How do you know that's not the result of some Pre-War glitch?

"All the lights went off when the bombs fell," I chimed in. "The Brotherhood got them working again when they got here. That doesn't mean anything, though."

"I'm still checkin' it out," Jaden shrugged before heading to the nearest door.

"Leave him," I told Kim. "There can't be many more ants left. He can catch up."

"I hope so," she sighed before following me deeper in.

It wasn't long before we discovered that Bryan wasn't the only survivor of the Grayditch incident. As soon as we opened the door at the end of the tunnel we were in, the other survivor practically jumped out of his boots.

"Gah, you scared me!" he cried in what I thought was a rather wimpy voice. "You really mustn't creep up on people like that!"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Kim apologized. "I didn't know there was somebody this far in that was still alive."

"That's why I chose this location to further my research," the labcoat-wearing wuss pronounced proudly. "It's a rather secure location, if I do say so, myself."

"I doubt that," I chimed in. "You're lucky they can't open doors."

"HAH! Ants opening doors, whoever heard of such a thing?" Labcoat boy jeered.

"One day, they stroll into town, and the next they're burning the town down," I informed him. "Who knows what trick they'll pick up next."

"They didn't gain their pyrosis by luck of the draw, you silly man," Labcoat boy laughed. "No, this disaster was brought on by mutagenic experimentation."

"What?" Kim blurted out in shock. "You did this?"

"Well, you see, I was trying to generationally reduce the mass of these gargantuans by directly influencing their DNA," Labcoat boy explained, "but I… well, it seems I spliced the wrong… gene."

"You can say that again," I scoffed.

"So, you tried to reduce their size by injecting the eggs with a DNA-restructuring serum, but instead you gave them a jugular gland that secretes _fire_!" Kim asked demandingly.

"Oh, my, you understand perfectly," Labcoat boy stated in surprise. "Yes, that's just it."

"I'm surprised you didn't try the serum on a control group and judge the results before injecting the entire brood," Kim huffed.

"Yes, you're right," Labcoat boy sighed. "I suppose I was a bit impatient. I… I was just so sure that this would work.

At that time, a sound echoed through the tunnels that made me think of one of the ants doing their 'pyrosis' thing.

"Keep Labcoat Boy talking," I told Kim. "I'll check that out."

"'Labcoat Boy'?" you-know-who huffed. "I beg your pardon! My name is Dr. Lesko, Dr-"

"Lesko, yeah, I caught that," I interrupted him. "Look, tell her how to fix your mistake. I gotta go."

I bolted out of the room and ran down the tunnel, the custom Chinese Assault Rifle gripped firmly as I charged. As it turned out, the sound hadn't come from an ant, though. Instead, I caught up with Jaden as he was exiting the room we left him in.

"Did you hear that?' I asked him.

"What, that fireball sound?" Jaden asked, patting the barrel of his Flamer. "Yeah, that was me."

"What happened?" I snorted. "Or were you just wasting ammo?"

"Pretty much," Jaden shrugged before holding up some lingere. "I picked up this little number in that room, along with parts to repair my Ripper with and some random ammo. Some lug-nut queer caught up to me as I was heading out and told me to hand this piece over. I told him to go fuck himself, and he started catching an attitude. Then he pulled out a gun, but by that time I was already in the process of setting his pubic hair on fire, and he didn't last long after that. So, yeah, I was pretty much wasting ammo."

I stood there, speechless, for a moment after he spoke. "Wha-how… Where was that guy while we were taking hits from those Fire Ants?" I said finally.

"Fuck if I know," Jaden shrugged nonchalantly. "Maybe he came in from the Falls Church Station? The entrance is just on the other side of that wall."

I growled at my own lapse of concentration. "How the hell did I miss that?"

Jaden shrugged again, and then started looking around. "Where'd Sexy run off to? I wanna see if she'll put this on for me."

I didn't answer him right away. To be honest, I was still trying to assess the problem that another entrance made. "…oh, what? Kim?" I asked finally. "She's off talking to Dr. …some labcoat boy down the tunnel. Turns out the whole dragonbreath thing was his idea."

"No shit?" Jaden laughed. "So what's the plan, we just pop Labcoat boy in the ass and get the hell outta here, then?"

"He was trying to… make the ants smaller somehow, I guess," I grumbled, having not caught onto most of the previous conversation. "He just fucked it up or something."

"That sucks," Jaden smirked. "So, what is the plan?"

"Fuck if I know," I sighed. "Let's meet back up with the brains of the group and figure this shit out."

"Fine by me," Jaden said. It didn't take us long to catch up with Kim, who, by the time we got there, had agreed to help Dr. Lesko with his ant problem.

"What took you so long?" she asked when we got back.

"It was just Jaden," I sighed. "So what did he say?"

"He wants us to take down the ants that are blocking the way to his primary research terminal," Kim explained. "Once we take those out, he can use that terminal to activate his Inhibitor Pulse, which will cause the ants above us to frenzy."

"You wanna run that by me in English?" Jaden scoffed.

"We go further down the tunnel, kill what ants are left, then Labcoat boy goes to play with a computer and the ants topside kill each other off," I explained, getting the gist of what Kim was saying.

"Sweet!" Jaden smirked, apparently in love with the idea. "Let's get it done, then."

Kim smiled and shook her head at Jaden and me as the three of us headed toward the nest.

Despite Labcoat Boy's experiments on them, the ants were still unintelligent insects. But if that wasn't the case, I would have laughed at their stupidity. The entrance to the Queen's chamber was practically irradiated with smoke. At the time, though, it told me what the scientist already explained – that the ants' pyrosis began in the nest.

Jaden took point, with Kim behind him making sure he didn't go firing off randomly. I took up the rear, keeping an eye behind us for no other reason than to justify my natural paranoia. Suddenly, I wanted one of us to stay behind at the makeshift laboratory in case the raider Jaden killed had friends that cared enough to come looking for him. But despite that concern, I didn't trust Kim to stay with Labcoat boy, because there's no telling what crazy ideas they'd come up with together. I didn't trust Jaden with the scientist because he'd probably get bored and start attracting too much attention to himself. On top of that, I didn't trust him to be alone with Kim because… well, let's just say it's for 'obvious reasons'.

Jaden signaled for us to stop, which broke me out of my tactical contemplation. I looked over at Kim's shoulder as she stared at her Pip-Boy. Her compass was pointing out the guardians we were meant to destroy with quest markers, and one of them had a red tic over it – which must have meant that one of them was close.

Jaden readied his Flamer – he must have noticed the oncoming foe before he told us to stop.

"Those things breathe fire," I pointed out. "What makes you think they'll be weak to it?"

"Yeah, they should be resistant to heat, since they were born with the ability to breathe fire," Kim added.

"We won't know unless we try," Jaden retorted, "and I'm gonna try."

"So, this is why he wanted to take point," I whispered to Kim in jest.

"Yeah, probably," Kim whispered back without emotion. I sighed. _My opinion of you just keeps changing._

The sound of moving fire echoed in the tunnel before I knew what was happening. The look on Jaden's face as he swapped fire would be terrifying if I thought for a second that he wasn't a complete goofball.

"_Burn, baby, burn~_" Jaden sang as the Flamer exchanged red death with the genetically enhanced insect. Kim crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently, and I couldn't help but sympathize. "Are we gonna sit around here all night, or…" I groaned.

Jaden growled, as if making the Flamer work required some great effort on his part outside of pulling a trigger. The words "Hurry the fuck up, and…" escaped his throat before his free hand slipped into his pocket.

"Fuck it," he spat before firing the custom .32 caliber pistol at the skull of his target. The ant's pyrotic spray arched upward as its skull flew up and away in a spiral, forcing Jaden to lean back and turn his head to the side. It wasn't until he was able to shift his body back into place that he released the trigger of his flamethrower.

"Well, now we know," he grumbled as he put the big weapon away.

"Sorry," Kim pouted. I wasn't as sympathetic, though.

"One down, four to go," I sighed, bringing my Xuanlong Assault Rifle to bear.

"Hold on," Jaden smirked, pulling a Missile Launcher out of his pack. "I'm not out of tricks, yet."

"That looks entirely unnecessary," Kim pointed out.

"Nah, not at all," Jaden smirked. "Let's see one of these motherfuckers resist **this**!"

_Yeah, that'll kill few ants. Nevermind the fact that it could cause a cave-in and kill ALL OF US, IDIOT!_

Despite my mental raving, we continued our spelunking in silence. After a minute of walking in complete quiet, though, I just had to get something off of my chest.

"He's got a thing for big guns," I whispered to Kim.

"Yeah," she whispered back. "He's probably overcompensating for something."

I chuckled at that thought, and let it at that. It didn't take long for us to find our next ant, and it took even less time for Jaden to send it to hell. I have to give Jaden this much, he's pretty efficient with that Missile Launcher.

"Okay, I can't take it," Kim huffed. "You're just gonna get us killed using that."

Kim pushed Jaden aside, but I stepped up before she could take point. "If we're going to do this, we should do it together," I pointed out. "Like I said earlier; we work together if we work at all." In truth, I didn't want her taking the lead because I knew she didn't have any weapons that were strong enough to take on what we were facing, but my point was still solid.

"He's right," Jaden added, pulling his .32 back out. "Next one that comes out, we all shoot."

"That goes for all of our targets," I demanded, pulling my Scoped .44 out as well. I was saving the Xuanlong for the Muties, and I sure as hell wasn't wasting the Gauss on a bunch of fucking ants.

"Alright," Kim sighed, pulling out the .32 Hunting Rifle that she picked up from the Raiders at the Super-Duper Mart. "But this tunnel's not wide enough for us to go side-by-side."

"I'll stay behind," I told her.

"Dude, she's got the rifle," Jaden pointed out.

"I've got the only weapon with a scope, and I've got a lot more experience with this gun than she does with that gun," I retorted, keeping my eyes on Jaden. "No offense," I added and shifted my gaze to Kim.

"It's alright," Kim nodded before turning to look at Jaden. "I'd feel better knowing he's the one playing sniper."

Jaden turned away from me, but I could tell he was scowling. "I'm glad YOU trust him." _Feeling's mutual, asshole._

The next two ants were a cinch to find, but they were right next to each other, which meant that they could lay down suppressing fire with greater efficiency. Having Jaden and especially Kim standing between me and them only emphasized my distaste for enclosed-space combat, but with the three of us shooting, it WAS easier. But since Jaden's gun had less kick than Kim's (a LOT less), I had to cover him more, despite what my instincts were telling me. I tell ya, being human can be a burden sometimes, but it sure as hell beats the alternatives. Well, I can't really say that, since I'm understandably biased towards humanity.

Jaden proved himself a liability as we enclosed upon our last target. "Holy shit, that's a big motherfucker."

"That's not a target," Kim tried to explain.

"Looks like a target to me," Jaden sneered.

"That's the queen," Kim warned him. "Not a target."

"Look, if we get rid of the queen, the colony dissipates," Jaden shot back. "Problem solved."

"That's not what we're here for!" Kim argued. "Destroy the queen, and we lose the ability to make the ants smaller! Dr.-"

"Fuck that faggot, I thought you were doing this for that little kid!" Jaden shouted. I had to holster my revolver and grab both of them by the shoulders to get their attention."

"No. Means. No," I growled quietly. "Now, both of you, shut up before-'

At that exact moment, I was very grateful for the time I served as an Initiate in the Brotherhood of Steel. Had it not been for that basic training, my instincts might not have been able to keep up with my hearing. Hell, I might not have even heard the ant's sharp inhale and been able to enhance my grip on the two in front of me, bend my legs down, and jump back, pulling the pair with me as we barely dodged the inferno that threatened to consume our bodies.

I growled breathlessly as my right arm bent, my hand searching for my weapon. Once my fingers wrapped around the stock of the revolver, my arm jumped, the barrel of the gun instantly pointing toward the enemy. My right eye squinted instinctively as I felt my index finger tighten around the trigger.

"Before exactly that happens," I managed to say before the gun went off.

Now, I'm not exactly a spiritual person, but I'm certain somebody was looking out for me, because that one bullet somehow managed to fly through the ant's open mouth and catch it right in the gland responsible for its 'pyrosis', causing its head to explode entirely.

To be honest, I was so shocked by my good fortune that I forgot being angry at my companions. I didn't even look down the scope, for crying out loud.

Jaden and Kim got up slowly. I think they were just as surprised as I was.

"So, that solves it," Jaden sighed.

"That solves it," I reiterated. "Now, what say we get the hell out of this tunnel?"

"Let me talk to Lesko," Kim said. "Then we can leave."

We headed back in silence, managing to slip out of the ant queen's field of vision entirely. The doctor was ecstatic to learn that we did as he asked, and offered to inject Kim with a Mutagenic something or other.

"I can give you Ant Might, which will improve your physical strength, or Ant Sight, which will improve your hand-eye coordination and perceptiveness," he said.

"Thank you, but…" Kim trailed off. "…uh… I don't… really… need a reward. Kindness is its own reward… y'know?"

"I see," Lesko sighed. "I understand." He suddenly regained his smile as he looked at Jaden and me. "How about you two, then?"

"Oh, hell no," Jaden chuckled. "There is no fucking way you're sticking any kinda shit into me. Fuck that!"

I thought about what happened in the tunnels, how we scraped by thanks only to sheer luck. I wondered if I could have improved our narrow escape if my senses here just a bit sharper. I thought about that, and decided that if I could make myself better, I should.

"Ant Sight," I said as I took the nearest seat. "But you'd better know what you're doing."

"Of course I know what I'm doing!" Labcoat Boy scoffed defensively. "Now sit still while I administer the serum."

I closed my eyes and allowed time to pass around me as Dr. Lesko injected me. My senses started going crazy, so I tried hard to shut them off, and must have worn myself out in the process.


	7. Back To Adventure

~Chapter Seven: Back to Adventure~

I don't remember most of the dream I had that day.

I think it had something to do with my Initiate training. It would make sense considering what was going through my head when I passed out, and the fact that I remember sprinting with what felt like a hundred pounds on my back, as vivid in the dream as the memory itself.

"Hey, wake up," Kim whispered in my ear as I was waking up. "We gotta go."

I quietly rubbed my eyes and sat up, the pain fresh in my arm from the sting of the needle. Once I was sentient enough to observe my surroundings, curiosity slapped me in the face. "Where is everybody?"

"Dr. Lesko is working on moving out of the tunnel," she explained.

I yawned a bit before I remembered who she left out. "And Jaden?" I asked.

She scowled and sighed at my mentioning of him. "He's taking Bryan to Rivet City if he knows what's good for him."

The venom in her voice woke me up plenty. "What did he do?" I asked knowingly.

"Demanded I put on some…" she trailed off in rage.

I just had to say it. "Lingere?"

The way Kim glared at me made me regret saying that instantly. "You KNEW!"

"He showed it to me when…" I muttered. "…I thought he was just joking. I'm sorry."

Her response was to growl and turn her back to me. "Did he really demand that you wear it?" I had to ask.

"Not really," she grumbled. "Just… gave me a look that reminded me of… yesterday."

_Awww. Too soon?_

"So, that means we're alone," I sighed.

"Let's just go," she snapped. "We've still got a long way to go, right?"

At least she's finally seeing things realistically. "Yeah. Ready when you are."

The Marigold Metro Station thankfully stayed empty of ants as we made our way out. Add that to the fact that Labcoat boy pretty much came through in his promise of the topside regimen destroying itself, and things were looking up for us so far. Farragut wasn't far off from Grayditch either, so that helped as well. It was once we got inside that reality kicked back in.

"Are those… ghouls?" Kim asked when she saw a group of zombies huddled behind a steel fence.

"Ferals, by the look of them," I pointed out. I almost chuckled at her clueless look; she really was raised in a Vault. "Ferals are Ghouls that have lost their minds," I explained," usually due to prolonged exposure to radiation. Having lost the ability to reason, they generally attack whatever comes into their line of sight that has a pulse, with the sole exception of other ghouls."

"Why aren't they attacking us, then?" she asked calmly as she walked up to the fence.

I kicked the gate to demonstrate that it was locked. "That's why?"

"How do they know that it's locked if they can't reason?" She retorted.

I pointed to the dead flesh dangling on the fence in several areas. The disgusted look on her face proved further explanation unnecessary. "Let's try another way through," I said, while pointing to the door at the other end of our side of the fence.

What we entered was a Pre-War security station – naval-style bunk, desk with a terminal that unlocked the safe beside it, and an assortment of office supplies. The safe didn't have anything of value, a laser pistol, some energy cells, a Pre-War manual on proper laser pistol use… merchant fodder, really.

"Guess we go through the Ferals," I sighed in discontent. I didn't like the idea of wasting ammo on them.

A few discharged 10mm and .44 rounds later and we moved on from this simple encounter. The Ferals were few and far between after that, but they were kind enough to leave a few Raider corpses for us, with plenty of merchant fodder for our collection.

Farragut Metro led straight into Tenleytown Metro, and we managed to find a few still-living friends of the Raider corpses we picked clean earlier. They must've been the rear flank of the group, because they went down quick. Of course, had that been true, the Raiders in this area were smarter than popular belief gave them credit for. Given the chem addiction the Raiders of the Capital Wasteland were famous for, that seemed unlikely. Of course, I might as well have been right, because the challenge came where Tenleytown Metro opened up to Dupont Circle.

I imagine the area is so named by the circular platform that houses the Pre-War statue, but regardless, that's where the bulk of the Raider horde had been positioned. They had spaced themselves out decently, with most wielding conventional rounds. One of them, however, made the difficulty of the battle what it was by bringing a Missile Launcher to the gunfight. Granted, the lack of cover in the area helped with that. Naturally, that particular Raider was the first to go toward the light.

Although it cost us some injury, the lack of explosives raining at us tipped the battle in our favor. Scattered as they were, it was still around eight of them against the two of us – they were outnumbered.

We spent a decent amount of time after the battle healing wounds and collecting merchant fodder, although there were enough .32 and 10mm rounds in the mix to make Kim happy, before proceeding through Dupont Station. Despite the remaining Ferals and Raiders standing in our way, the rest of the trip proved rather uneventful. That is, until we neared our destination.

Once out of Dupont Station, we ran across our first two Supers. Firing .32 Hunting Rifles that they fired from the hip, they were barely even a challenge. But that didn't stop the nearby Brotherhood squad from charging to our 'rescue'. To my surprise, however, the group was led by someone I thought – and severely hoped – that I would never see again.

"Matthew Scott," Sarah Lyons, daughter of Elder Lyons and head of the Lyon's Pride, called to me in her usual authoritive tone. "What a surprise this is."

"The feeling's mutual," I lied. "The situation out here must be serious for the Lyon's Pride to be stuck with guard duty."

"Patrol duty, actually," she corrected me. "And yes, the infestation around the GNR Outpost is worse than usual. But what brings mercenary scum like you out into this warzone?"

"Business as usual," I sneered. Sarah took one look at Kim and her expression darkened.

"Whatever," she scoffed. "Alright, fall back."

The rest of the squad followed Sarah toward GNR. _Just my luck_.

"Who… was that?" Kim asked pointedly. I shook my head at the prospect of introducing the two.

"Someone I have no interest in socializing with," I sighed. "It looks like we're headed in the same direction, though."

"Crap," she growled.

"Follow close to me and keep quiet," I told her. "We'll let them lead us in, and if we don't draw attention to ourselves, they shouldn't take notice of us more than they already have."

"Okay," Kim sighed as she walked toward me.

Kim must've learned from her experience at the Super Duper Mart, because we didn't have a problem staying undetected as we followed the Lyon's Pride into GNR, even though they made an effort to run into every Super Mutant in the nearby schoolhouse ruins, finishing their tour of mutie death by wasting the group just outside GNR. Seriously, shouldn't the guys guarding that building have taken those ones out before now?

"Ugh, it's right there…" Kim whined. Not that I could blame her.

"Just wait for them to go in," I told her. "Then, we follow. We can probably find Three-Dog insi-"

The interruption came from a concussive blast to our left, the type you can hear from behind several inches of metal. Two others followed, the serenade ending with an explosion and a flying suit of Power Armor, complete with dead human flesh inside.

I took out the Gauss. There's only one thing in the D.C. area capable of that kind of power. "What. Is. That!" Kim shouted as the Brotherhood – guards and patrols – fired upon the Super Mutant Behemoth.

My first shot flew into the creature's ear, but I might as well have been using a B.B. Gun, because it didn't so much as look at me. I figured the impact of the supersonic round would have at least knocked it on its ass, but nothing. I growled as I cleared the chamber and replaced the rounds with a fresh batch, deciding that the lack of effect was probably due to the backpack of shopping carts and assorted junk keeping it weighed down.

"How do you plan – how can you fight that thing – how can you KILL it!" Kim ranted. I shrugged and fired at the behemoth again. Right between the buttcheeks, no effect.

I didn't see Kim looking around for a solution as I reloaded my weapon, but I definitely saw her after my third shot as she raced INTO the battlefield – TOWARD the behemoth.

I grumbled at her as I emptied the canister. I reached for another set of Microfusion Cells only to discover – to my dismay – that I had just spent the last of them. My response to this problem was probably one of the stupidest things I've ever done, but with Kim in the danger she shoved herself into, I saw no other alternative. I grabbed the Xuanlong Assault Rifle, roared at the top of my lungs, sprayed 5.56mm rounds into the colossal beast in front of me, and positioned my body between it and Kim.

The tactic did what I was trying to do; the creature started running toward me. But instead of being tossed across the battlefield by the fire hydrant staff it carried, something flew over me and hit the creature in the chest, ripping it open with a surprising explosion.

I glanced at my six to see Kim loading a Mini-Nuke into a Fat Man. The dead Brotherhood guard lying at her feet filled in the blanks of her new acquisition. As my thoughts returned to the imminent threat before me, a new Mini-Nuke followed them, and the ensuing explosion ripped the creature's skull in twain.

Kim cheered, and I couldn't help but feel relieved as well, though the entire situation begged the question of where that bastard came from in the first place. Still the same question could be asked of any Super Mutant in the Capital Wasteland.

"Did you see that!" Kim asked euphorically. "Man, that was fun!"

_A line worthy of coming from Jaden's mouth._ "Yeah, it looks like a fun toy to go Radscorpion hunting with. Where did you find it?" I kinda knew already, but why not ask?

"Oh, I found it on this dead guard," she explained. "I think maybe the smaller mutants that that woman killed got to him first."

"Oh. I guess the important thing is that we're both safe. Shall we go inside, then?" I asked.

"Yeah!" She exclaimed as she stowed the Fat Man. _Guess I can't complain about her not having any strong weapons, now._

"I always knew you were resourceful," Sarah sneered, "but taking out a Behemoth by yourself is just magical."

I scowled at her, the Xuanlong still in my arms. "You're talking to the wrong person," I growled.

"And you don't think I know that?" Sara chided me. "Damn, you've gotten soft." _Yeah, fuck you, too._

"Three-Dog's upstairs, if you still want to talk to him," Sarah added to Kim before walking away with what remained of Lyon's Pride. I couldn't help but notice that the squad seemed smaller than before.

"What's up her butt?" Kim scoffed when she saw the look on my face. I could have come up with any number of retorts, honestly, but it was just too easy.

"Long story," I said with a resigned sigh. "Let's do what we came here for."

_**Note from the Author:**__ After writing this chapter, I discovered through playing Fallout 3 that SMBs bounce rather entertainingly when hit by the supersonic round of Operation: Anchorage's Gauss Rifle. After contemplating this fun fact, I decided not to change the battle of this chapter, concluding that the extra gear GNR's Behemoth carries offers it the extra weight needed to stay 'grounded'. Maybe I'll test the Gauss on said mutie later on and test this theory, though it will likely prove to be just a creative license on my part. If so, it will probably remain that way._


	8. The Good Fight, pt1

_**Note from the Author: **__I almost put a fourth wall pun in here, but I didn't want to break the suspension of disbelief. Hope you enjoy this chapter all the same, and be on the lookout for my new Super Smash Bros. story, 'Mario's Madness'. One more thing, thanks to 101 Obsessions for the review!_

~Chapter Eight: The Good Fight, Pt. 1~

In hindsight, I really hate it when I'm right.

In the ruined building that served as the GNR Outpost, the jockey of the airwaves lived in what was left of the top floor, which meant that we had to suffer more jeers about how the behemoth went down. As usual, by we, I mean I. I was happy when we ditched the 'Steel Plague', but that feel-good feeling didn't last, either.

Three-Dog, despite the fact that his voice was running full-blast on the airwaves, was passed out on a nearby bed. From what little I'd listened of GNR, the fact that it was all recorded – as opposed to being aired live like a real radio station – came as a mild surprise.

"Mr. Three-Dog?" Kim asked, gently waking the man up. "Do you have a minute?"

To his credit, the man and legend got right up. "Yeah, of course. What can I help you with."

"Well, you wondered what happened to make so many people leave Vault 101, right? Well, you guessed it right, somebody DID fart… and it was me."

Despite my best efforts to remain calm, I shared in Three-Dog's heartfelt laughter. After all, I wasn't expecting that friendly hello. But I knew, after spending the whole day with her, that she was joking. Fortunately, so did he, but it took a bit to calm him down from his ranting of 'I knew it, I just knew it!' before Kim could continue. "Now that I've got your attention, I was wondering if you could help me with something."

Kim went on to describe that fateful day. Her friend, the Overseer's daughter, waking her up to tell her that her life is in danger, her oath to use the Overseer's pistol as nothing but a last resort, how she had to use that 'last resort' to save her friend at the cost of the head of security's life, and finally, her escape from the Vault. Then she dropped the proverbial bomb. The Overseer's bloodlust, her first kill, the necessity for her escape: Daddy was to blame for the whole nine yards.

Once the mysterious 'James' made his escape, the Overseer automatically assumed that Kim would follow suit, and that others would take the cue – something Kim imagined that Daddy hadn't planned on. The Overseer then went on a power binge; taking their mutual friend Jonas's life, issuing lockdown via martial law, the manhunt for Kim, etc. Kim's friend apparently found out these events as they occurred and got to Kim first, hence the ensuing bloodbath. Kim went on to describe the events after her escape, wisely omitting Fairfax from the tale and ignoring the fact that she and I ever met – for good reason, of course. Like I said before, this is not my story.

She ended the tale with how she heard her father's name on Three-Dog's broadcast and a 'Here we are', leaving Three-Dog speechless for a moment.

"That's just… wow," he finally managed to say. "That would make for one hell of a story. Full of sorrow, suspense, and tragedy… it'd sure beat the hell out of that old coot Dashwood's series, that's for damn sure.

"Except that the events in this story actually took place," I assured the man.

"Don't disbelieve everything you're told," Three-Dog scoffed. "Hell, you can march up to Tenpenny Tower and get the story from Dashwood himself – the old coot is, get this, still alive."

"Anyway, let me get this straight," Three-Dog continued as he rose to his feet. "You heard me mention your old man on the airwaves earlier today and came wading through Super Mutant Territory hoping to find Daddy unharmed and everything would be all sugar and rainbows, right?"

"Don't be a mindreader," I smirked. The look on Kim's face was priceless as she tried to decide who she was angrier with – Three-Dog for putting my thoughts to the spoken word, or me for having had said thoughts in the first place.

"Something like that," she muttered.

"Well, that's the problem with the recording process," Three-Dog sighed. "The intel that I so graciously provide gets old fast. Oh, if only I had the resources to do live shows…"

_So, that explains it, _I thought to myself.

"So, he's not here…" Kim sighed dishearteningly.

"Nope, but he was," Three-Dog explained. "Ol' James heard that Three-Dog is a man who sees things for what they are and he came up to GNR to get a lay of the land, so to speak. He had this fire in his eye, y'know, the kind a man gets when he has a purpose."

"Do you know where he is now?" Kim asked.

"Well, of course I do," Three-Dog smiled. "But if you want to know more, you'll have to contribute to the Good Fight."

My ragged sigh did not go unheeded. "This is the part where we get dragged into solving other people's problems while 'Daddy' has the chance to run ever further away," I warned Kim.

Kim wasn't hearing any of it, though. "If it means finding my Dad, I'm willing to do anything." _Including getting raped by a gang of inbred assholes –oh wait._

"Look," Three-Dog sighed, "this station is my baby, okay? I feed it, I wipe it, I keep it healthy, but nobody can hear it cry because some idiot – a mutie, I'm guessing – thought it would be fun to shoot at the 'shiny silver thing' on top of the Washington Monument."

"Was that your transmitter dish?" Kim asked keenly.

"Wow, you're as sharp as your old man," Three-Dog smiled. "You guessed it right."

"Good luck finding a replacement for that," I scoffed.

"You got that right," Three-Dog nodded. "The factory that makes them was leveled long ago – scavenged until there wasn't enough left to keep the building upright."

"What can we do to repair your radio signal, then?" Kim asked.

"Well, as it turns out, one of my pals in the Brotherhood located a satelllite dish a while back in the Museum of Technology over in –" Three-Dog tried to explain.

"Over in the Mall Outpost, deep in the heart of Mutie County," I interrupted.

"Looks like your friend's got D.C. figured out," Three-Dog scoffs.

"I wouldn't have made it here without him," Kim smiled in response. "So, we go to the Museum of Technology, taking down every Super Mutant in our way, take the dish to the Washington Monument, and ghetto-rig it to the transmitter array, right?"

"That's the jist of it," Three-Dog nodded. "I won't lie to you – it won't be easy. But-"

"But it's for a good cause," Kim interrupted. "…well, two of them. Anyway, I'm on it.'

Three-Dog practically squealed in joy. "I sure know how to pick 'em!" _Whatever._

"C'mon," Kim smiled at me. "Let's get going."

_**Note from the Author:**__ Okay, so this is a short chapter. In my defense, writer's block is a bitch. I've got an idea how to start the next chapter, though, so hopefully I'll get the next chapter out on time. But that depends on when I can get online next, as well, so… yeah. Later!_


	9. Tender Moments

_**Note from the Author:**__ …wow. Okay, so it's been a few months since I've even messed with writing. There's no real excuse for it except for 'the Internet is one hell of a drug', but that would be a cheap way to go about it. Real life has been a bit of a problem recently, but it's afforded me plenty of time to write, so I can't blame that either. Well, I don't know if anyone's still interested in this after all this time, but I'm gonna try to keep working on this anyway. And if anybody IS still reading this… thanks._

*Chapter Nine: Tender Moments*

The sun was setting on the deolate wastes of the DC warzone as Kim and I were leaving GNR. Kim did her best to be nice to the Brotherhood soldiers and ignore their jeering at our good fortune, but the whole situation with Three-Dog and Kim's father just pissed me off too much, and I didn't even bother. I had a good idea of how Kim was by then, and I couldn't help but feel like Three-Dog was taking advantage of her, nevermind the fact that he was trying to get her killed by sending her on this suicide mission. Made me want to ring his neck.

I kept my mouth shut as we entered the tunnels headed toward the Mall District, venting my anger out on the Ferals and Raiders that dared cross our path. I didn't think Kim had caught on to my malcontent, but that girl was smarter than most people gave her credit for, myself included. We were near the end of one tunnel where we found a Raider chilling out in a cozy little alcove off to the side of the tunnel we were marching through. Once the Raider was dealt with, Kim busied herself by unhooking all the dead bodies and tidying up the place.

"What are you up to?" I asked , leaning up against the corner and watching her work.

"It's getting late," Kim explained. "Going out there tired is just going to get us killed, and being mad at everybody and everything isn't going to help you, either."

And there I stood, caught with my hand in the cookie jar by a teenager. Role reversal, much?

"Fair enough," I said begrudgingly. Just because she was right, didn't mean I had to be happy about it.

Taking the logical route, I turned aside to watch the tunnel, so Kim didn't get jumped while she was playing house. Once the sounds of her movement stopped, I waited a good ten minutes to make sure nobody was coming before turning my head to check on her.

…I couldn't believe what I saw. I simply could not believe it. She had taken off her leathers and was curled up on a mattress wearing the lingere Jaden gave her. It was shocking enough that she had even kept it, let alone let herself be naked underneath it. Jaden would have gone completely ape-shit if he could see her like this.

I probably would have killed him if he had.

"Don't get any ideas," Kim muttered, her arms curling over her chest while her legs folded up. "I just can't sleep with that Leather Armor on. I boil up."

In other words, she saw me gawking at her and got creeped out over it. I could take a hint.

"There's a turret terminal just over there. I've already programmed the turret to protect us, so there's no need for you to keep watch. Get some sleep. I know you need it."

I took her up on her offer and stripped down to my Mercenary Grunt Outfit, which I was wearing under my Combat Armor the whole time. There were two mattresses in the alcove, so I took the empty one and laid there. But while Kim passed out right away, or seemed to, it took me a while to follow suit. Too much on my mind.

I thought about the T-51b I left behind in Megaton. Not wearing it in front of the Brotherhood was a smart move on my part, but I couldn't help but feel that if I knew we'd be gavalanting around the Mall, that I would have at least risked it enough to keep it on me. I'd like to see a bunch of Muties try to rip through auto-repairing Power Armor. Hell, I would have risked wearing it in FRONT of the Brotherhood were I expecting that Behemoth.

Of course, the question of the Behemoth itself demanded mental examining. How the Muties snuck it into DC, how it broke into GNR (except for that last bit, I was there for that), and the number-one question: How Kim and I would have fared if it was just the two of us. Not that the Brotherhood was much of a help by themselves, but if that Fat Boy wasn't there…

Jaden found his way into my mind, too. I couldn't help but wonder what kind of trouble that idiot would pick up in Rivet City. The security was so tight there that there was no question as to why it was Mutie-free despite its vicinity to Amarita Crossing, which led into DC.

And somewhere through it all, Sarah broke through. I didn't dare say anything to Kim about it, but I used to have a thing for her. Never got to find out if it was mutual, but even if it was, I still would have expected the greeting we had. Brotherhood honor and all. I'm pretty sure I said this already, but I didn't leave the Brotherhood on the best of terms.

That's not the best thought to have before you fall asleep, but that's about where my mind was at when I did pass out. I don't remember what I was dreaming about, but I remember feeling like I was dreaming when I woke up, because Kim was nested up to me in her lingere. I distinctly remember thinking that I was still dreaming.

I wouldn't have been able to guess the time were it not for Kim's Pipboy. 4:45 am. I should have still been asleep, but having Kim this close to me didn't make it easy. So, instead of drifting back to sleep, I found myself piddling around with the device, thankful that the noises it made didn't wake her up. It seemed quite the useful device. It kept watch of her physical condition, the condition of her limbs, her radiation count, the items she had on her (which weren't much, what with her being almost naked at the moment), even a map of the Capitol Wasteland. That didn't make much sense, considering where she got it from, but damn if it wasn't handy.

It also had a radio, which I didn't touch given that she was asleep, as well as a list of notes. While she had a couple that were written out, there was one that had nothing but a weird symbol on it. It had a 'play' button, so like an idiot, I pressed it.

"_Hold on Jonas, I need to record this first," the first voice, deep and firm, with an almost scholarly twist, said at max volume. I hastily turned the volume on the Pipboy down as the recording continued. "I… I don't …really know how to tell you this. I hope you'll understand, but I know you might be angry. I thought about it for a long time, and in the end, I decided it was best for you not to know. So many things could have gone wrong, and there's really no telling how the Overseer will react when he finds out. It's best if he can blame everything on me. Obviously, you already know that I'm gone. It was something I needed to do. You're an adult now. You're ready to be out on your own. Maybe, someday, things will change, and we can see each other again. I can't tell you why I left, or where I'm going. I don't want you to follow me. God knows life in the vault isn't perfect, but at least you'll be safe. Just knowing that will be enough to keep me going."_

"_Don't mean to rush you, Doc, but I'd feel better if we got this over with," the second voice, not quite as deep but definitely male voice spoke out._

"_Okay," the first voice continued, "go ahead. Good bye… I love you."_

_What a perfect asshole,_ I couldn't help thinking. I heard a noise from Kim, so I set the Pipboy back to the setting she left it at, and leaned back. Somehow, my wrist brushed up against her cheek. It felt wet. I reached out to feel her cheek again, but she turned her head in my direction and opened her eyes.

"Oh… I'm sorry," she said weakly before rubbing her eyes. "I… it was kinda cold, so…"

"It's alright," I told her, ignoring the sarcastic comments my brain was making. "…are you okay?"

"It's just," she started to say, trying to find some strength for her voice. "…bad dream."

"What was it about?" I asked, quickly adding, "It might help if you talk about it."

"Thank you," she smiled weakly. "It was about… you know. Dad."

Now boarding on Guilt Train #01. One passenger, name of Derp.

"That's… kind of my fault, I guess," I said, telling her about the note.

"Oh," she said calmly, to my surprise. "I was… kind of avoiding listening to it. I knew I 'd cry if I did, and… haven't had much time for that, y'know."

"Yeah," I sighed, feeling like a first-class retard. "Sorry."

"You were curious," she said matter-of-factly, which must've been hard to do in her condition. "I understand… what did it say?"

I should have told her to just listen to it instead of turning it back on, but in my defense, she didn't try to stop me. The note played on, and the closer it got to the end, the more she looked like she was fighting back tears.

"I knew it," she sniffled. I listened to instinct and wrapped my arms around her belly, in an attempt to comfort her. Thankfully, she took it for what it was and held onto my arms, returning the gesture. Then, she laid it on me.

"My earliest memory is being a year old," she started. "Dad telling me not to look into the light, asking me to walk toward him, and then going off to his office, leaving me in the room 'for just a moment'. My dream started out that way. As Dad was leaving, Jonas came through the door, which is not how I remember it. He had blood on his coat, and a hole, where he was shot. Just like I found him, the day I left the vault. He closed the door behind him, and told my Dad it 'was time'. That's when I started hearing that note in my dream, starting with 'Hold on Jonas'. "

I cursed my timing mentally as she went on to explain what went on in her dream while she heard the note.

"When Jonas told my dad he'd rather get this over with, he opened the door again, but I couldn't see the room behind it. All I could see was fire, like the gates of Hell or something. Dad said goodbye, said he loved me, then started walking away, into the fire. I screamed, begging him to stop, but I was still just a baby. He couldn't tell what I was saying, and no matter how loud I got, I couldn't scream over the roar of the fire."

She was crying again, and for damn good reason. I felt like my eyes would start up if I let them.

"I've got to find him," she said finally, pushing her tears away just so she could talk straight. "I can't just… I've at least got to say goodbye, if nothing else."

I was feeling all kinds of shit at that moment, so I just shut my brain off. "I'll help you find him," I said, not even trying to stop myself, let alone think of what that would mean. "No matter what it takes."

Kim shifted her weight and wrapped her arms around me. Mind you, she was damn near naked at the time, and I wasn't too far from it myself. I wrapped my arms around her and did the best I could to ignore my dick entirely.

We both slept pretty good after that.


	10. I'm such a Hiatusfag

That's right, my loyal fans. I've basically ignored this site for ten months, working on Team Snagem stuff as well as exploring the realms of Skyrim and Minecraftia, as well as replaying games till I got blue in the face.

I feel horrible about being gone so long, but DO NOT FRET! I haven't given up on The Road We Travel or Mario's Madness! I'm warming up Chapters 10 and 2 respectively as I type this, and to make things better, I'm considering projects for Skyrim, Minecraft, and even a five-generations long Pokemon project! That's a lot of writing which will take a lot of time, but I want everyone who actually reads my stuff to know, in the words of Jaden, that I'M BACK, BITCHES!

FALLOUT 3: THE ROAD WE TRAVEL - A humble reviewer has asked me to expand on the character of Matthew Scott, and I'm considering switching to Kimberly Lee's POV in order to do so. It won't be for long, though, since the focus of the story is a look at the Lone Wanderer from the perspective of her bodyguard (and possible love interest OOOOOOH), but I can't make Kim as human as possible only for one of my other characters to suffer the fate of Gary Stu! Plus, I have an entirely different project dedicated to flashbacks into the past of our favorite Ex-Brotherhood soldier, not to mention a New Vegas sequel to this series!

SUPER SMASH BROTHERS: MARIO'S MADNESS - I don't have a lot to report on this story because you've barely gotten a taste of what it has to offer, and I don't want to spoil anything! This might be my shortest project compared to what I have planned for my Fallout and Skyrim projects, but that's just speculation at this point. I do have a rollercoaster ride of emotions to play into this story though, so you will be getting plenty of bang for your buck as far as this story is concerned (even though I'm not getting bucks for any of this. *shrug*)

THE ELDER SCROLLS V SKYRIM: THE MANMERI WAR: Picture this. The Stormcloaks won the Skyrim Civil War. The Dragonborn has slain Alduin, and the Dragons that remain have followed Parthuumax down the path to peace, so the people of Skyrim only have the Empire's fall to concern themselves with. However, with the fall of the Empire comes the wrath of the Aldmeri Dominion! Can Skyrim stand against the combined forces of the hosts from the Summerset Isles and Valenwood? Will the Dunmer ever fully recover from the Red Year, and which side will they take? And what happened to the Dragonborn, to say nothing of the Nerevarrine! You'll have to wait until I publish this story to find out. d:

MINECRAFT (working title): I haven't worked out the kinks of this story yet, and it'll probably be the last of the new projects I have in mine for now to be published. But be expecting something along the lines of I Am Legend meets Rick Murray's War in Minecraft, a mixture of Solo and Server play.

I'm going to stop this hype train here and get to work on the next chapter of The Road We Travel and Mario's Madness. Feel free to review and give me your opinions of the direction I'm taking with these projects (and maybe bump up the hype some more 3).

Just one more thing before I go. I'm probably going to need to make some new characters for Fallout/Skyrim/Minecraft to keep from making these stories feel empty, so if you would like to see any of YOUR characters in my stories, feel free to send me a PM! (I won't accept any OCs from reviews. Get a account already! Laziness is no excuse!)

See you in Chapters 10&2!

-James Terrazen

Meet me on Gaia! /profiles/terashileongoken/895768/

Meet me on Facebook! facebook. profil..php?id=100003056155068


	11. Through the Eyes of the Wanderer

_**Note from the Author:**__ That's right. This will be an extension of the ninth chapter, with Kim as the main protagonist. Hopefully, this will let you see our mercenary friend from the vision of our Lone Wanderer, though I suspect Kim's character will get some revelation as well, since you'll get to look inside her head in the process. Also, I'm using Wordpad from now on because fuck Microsoft Office and it's slow-loading soddery._

_Also, I forgot something in my hiatusfag chapter._

_POKEMON: THROUGH THE GENERATIONS - Now, this series began as a comic strip for a Nuzlocke run of a Pokemon Yellow ROM. However, the run met a bad end when my only Cutter died at Lt. Surge's hands, and MS Paint changed significantly since then, so the strip was canceled. But before that, the difficulty of making a higher-quality strip had me feeling like I should stick to what I know with the series - writing. So, from the Nuzlocke community to you, MasterChu and his best friends are getting a debut under the full glory of the English language!_

_But enough of that. On with the story at hand!_

*Chapter Ten: Through the Eyes of the Wanderer*

I was having that dream again. The one where a walking dead Jonas was leading my father out of our old home in Vault 101 and into the fires of hell itself. I called out to him again, but the stil couldn't hear me. But this time, I saw the gate to my play area in front of me and remembered opening it as a toddler. With a push, it opened in the dream, allowing me to walk out into the room and towards the fire.

It was the oddest sensation. My skin was boiling but I was shivering from some unseen cold, and I could hear splatters of gunfire. I wasn't in the fire for long, though, as I saw Dad being carried by some big, bulky metal construct. It walked like a human, and it was walking toward me. I walked backwards, back into the room, and it followed me. The door closed behind him, and the fires from the nearby window died, revealing the rest of Vault 101.

Dad's savior placed him carefully on the floor, and I ran toward him to make sure he wasn't dead. But as I made sure he was just unconscious, I realized I wasn't a toddler anymore. I was back to normal. I heard a sharp hiss and looked up at the construct to see it pulling its head off. It had skin underneath. The head was just a helmet, the metal body was armor. But the more I struggled to see who was behind the metal helmet, the more I felt myself waking up, until all I could see was the face of my savior.

The lights of our makeshift hiding spot were on all this time, so I had no idea how long i'd slept. I didn't feel like checking my Pip-Boy either. My body was feeling a bit stiff, though, so I sat up. That's when I found out the sensation of freezing inside during my dream came from sleeping on a matress with no covers deep in the belly of a sewer wearing nothing but lace and decided to change back into my leathers before Matt woke up. I couldn't help but feel nervous every time he looked at me, but that feeling was better than the one I got from Jaden, so I tried not to let it bother me.

Once I was up and dressed, I figured there was no point in not checking the time. 7:15 am Close enough to morning, I decided. I checked the terminal for weapons discharge data and, like I thought, the turret had went off about two hours ago, explaining the shots I 'd heard in my dream. I slept through it, but I wondered if it woke Matt up. If it did, he didn't show any signs of it, as he was still dead to the world. I made a mental note to ask him before we left, since once we did, there wouldn't be time for talking.

I walked over to my pack and took out an old package of Salisbury Steak. It was my favorite evening meal back in the vault, but pickings were slim out here in the Wastes, so I didn't think Matt would object to breakfast steak. There wasn't a microwave nearby, either, though, so I had to cook it the hard way. Fortunately, there were some wooden planks nearby with which to feed the fire without attracting any new Raiders. I wasn't about to try fighting anybody on my own any time soon.

About twenty minutes of listening to a roaring fire later, and either the sound or the smell got to Matt, and he finally rustled awake. "Good morning," I told him

He didn't respond to that, unsurprisingly, but once he sat up and rubbed his eyes, he managed to find his voice. "What time is it?"

Now, when I had said twenty minutes earlier, it was a bit of an exaggeration. I wasn't exactly measuring time. Besides, I prefer to cook with my senses rather than with a watch. "7:27 in the morning. Breakfast is almost ready, by the way."

I caught him pulling some Brahamin Steak out of his pack and I frowned. "H-hey! This is for both of us," I said, lifting the frozen meal up a bit for him to see.

"That's not enough for both of us," he retorted without even turning to look. "Hell, that's not even enough for me. I feel like a Radroach carved it's way into my belly and started su..."

He looked at me for a minute, then shook his head. "I feel like I haven't eaten in a month, let's just leave it at that."

I felt a giggle bubbling in the pit of my stomach, but it died when he shook his head. I enjoyed the way he embellished on his way of talking, but it was annoying to see him catch himself in the act and crawl back into his shell. I've been planning to break him of his shell for a while, though. I scooted away from the fire a bit to give him room to cook his steaks and we shared what felt to me like an awkward silence for a bit. Then my meal almost caught on fire and I decided to go ahead and eat it before it got burnt.

"Did the turret wake you?" I finally asked as I was tearing into my Salisbury Steak.

"Yeah. Didn't wake you, though." he said, looking at me quizically.

"Ah, the terminal kept a log of every time the turret was discharged," I said, feeling a bit flushed under his gaze.

"Hm." he grunted, looking back down at his meal.

"We should head back and see what it killed before we go, see if we can sal..."

I trailed off when I saw his head shaking. "Already taken care of."

"Oh," I said, feeling a bit disappointed. Eventually, I decided it was better off being out of the way.

Most of breakfast was spent in silence. I wanted to stay in that little room for a while after that, but Matt had other plans.

"What are you doing?" I asked as he started putting things away.

He didn't respond at first. "Getting ready to leave."

"You're not worried?" I asked.

Again, he hesitates. "You know I am. I just want to get this over with so we can go back to hunting down your father."

I remembered what he said the night before and I knew his reasons, so I didn't pester him any more. After a few mintues, I caved and started getting my things together.

Things were a little blurry after that, like they always are once adrenaline starts pumping through my veins. There was a large contingent of Super Mutants in the streets connecting the Mall to the Washington Monument and Capitol Hill. I wanted to believe they were waiting for us, but Matt said he knew better, that the Muties were fighting a war against the Brotherhood on one side, and Talon Company on the other. Not that we got much time to talk with all the bullets zinging all around us.

Matt lead us into a derelict building near to the entrance to the Mall Station. I was a bit surprised that we didn't find any Muties inside, but Matt said not to press our luck. We cleared out that first room of salvage and found a way up.

The Vault-Tec museum was depressing, though.

_**Note from the Author:**_ And that's all for this chapter. I'll go into detail of the Mall raid in the next chapter, and I'll switch POV back to Matt. If you pay attention to the way my writing style changes in this chapter, you can see that Matt's mind is hard-wired for processing action - doing the most damage to the enemy while preventing as much damage as possible from being dealt to him and his allies. Kim's mine is more proficient at processing data, however - collecting details from her surroundings and judging people's reactions. Sorry for the short chapter, and I'll see you in ch11, folks!


End file.
